SG13
by Xodarap
Summary: BtVSSG1, WiP Three years after the end of the series BtVS, a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead butt.
1. Part 1

SG-13  
  
By Xodarap  
  
Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, and SFC owns Stargate. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.  
  
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.  
  
Summary: Three years after the end of the series (BtVS), a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead ass.   
  
Author's Note: Special thanks to DaBear, Sirius, Miss Kayl, Big G, Rob Clark, Darklight, Eykar, S.M., charmedfanatic3000, Alexandra, slbwhitewolf, Mytryk, Calia, and WBH21C for the feedback. It's much appreciated.  
  
(BtVS/SG1, W/X)  
  
*  
  
(1/?)  
  
August 13, 2006  
  
Cheyenne Mountain  
  
Colorado Springs, CO  
  
Xander and Willow were sitting together eating lunch. Not an unusual occurrence in and of itself, but for the fact that they were eating lunch in the mess hall of a military facility inside Cheyenne Mountain.   
  
A lot of things had changed since Sunnydale was destroyed three years prior. For one, the world was full of slayers now, giving the rebuilt Watcher's Council a virtual army to battle the forces of evil. It had taken a little over a year for what was left of the Council to organize again, and begin a program for recruiting slayers in the Eternal Battle. And thanks to Giles, many of the Council's older and more barbaric practices had been put to rest. Slayers were treated with respect now, as people instead of just as tools. The Council had things well in hand now, which left many of the Scooby gang asking themselves what they were going to do with their lives now.   
  
Giles remained in England with the Council, spending his days in their immense library with his first love, books. Buffy and Dawn eventually settled down again in California. More than anything, Buffy wanted a normal life for her sister. She still kept in touch with the Council, and consulted with the local Watchers and slayers on the latest evils, but she kept her schedule light. Willow and Kennedy moved to New York, where they both enrolled in NYU. Willow also consulted with the Council on an as needed basis. Faith, despite her happiness at the end of the ordeal with the First Evil, became restless with all the downtime and decided that she wanted to be where the action was. She, along with Robin Wood, moved to Cleveland to safeguard the city against the forces that the Hellmouth drew to it. Xander for the most part felt like he didn't have anything left to cling to. He went to Cleveland with Faith and Robin for a while, but ended up setting out on his own. He was bitter, angry at the universe for all that it had taken from him. At the time, the loner lifestyle appealed to him, and he crisscrossed the country, killing any demons or vampires that happened across his path.  
  
Until one day when Xander was approached by an Air Force Colonel named Jack O'Neill, and he was given an offer that he couldn't refuse. It was a chance to make a real difference again. With Xander's help, the same offer was extended to some of his friends, and a few of them accepted as well.  
  
But then, some things never change. That's what Willow was thinking as she looked across the table at her oldest friend as he wolfed down a slice of lemon meringue pie. Xander's appetite was still rivaled by no one, and the two of them found themselves best friends again. Closer than they had been in years. They made new friends as well, Colonel O'Neill and the rest of his team among them. And Willow could see that light in Xander's eyes, or eye rather, slowly returning. He was a lot like his old self again, brave, loyal, with that same sense of humor in the face of danger, and that same lopsided grin. But there was an edge to his personality now too, a sadness and a seriousness sometimes. He would never be one hundred percent the same as he was, Willow surmised. Nor should he be. People change, they grow up. It's the natural order of things. She herself was a far cry from that shy, mousy girl she had once been. If someone had told her then, that someday she would one day be sitting in a military facility wearing fatigue pants and a black tee shirt, looking through a pair of wire-framed glasses at her oldest friend who was dressed exactly the same, save the eye patch and the dog tags hanging from his neck, and she would have said they were crazy. But here she was.  
  
Xander peered up at her from where he was hunched over his dessert. "You're staring again," he said with a mouth full of pie.   
  
"Sorry," Willow said, shaking her head. "I was just thinking."  
  
"What about?"  
  
"Just how much everything has changed. Sometimes I look around and I still can't quite believe where we are, what we're doing."  
  
"I know what you mean," Xander agreed. He took the last bite of his pie and checked his watch. "SG-1 should be getting back soon. You think we'll get the call?"  
  
"If Daniel translated those tablets accurately," Willow said. "It definitely looks like a job for us."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Are you really that eager for action again?" Willow asked. "It hasn't even been a week since we got back from PX-1109B2."  
  
Xander grinned. "What can I say, action is my reward."  
  
Willow couldn't help but smile back. She opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the PA.  
  
"SG-13, please report to the briefing room, ASAP."  
  
Xander smiled again as he stood and drained the last of his soda. "Looks like you get your wish, Spider-Man," Willow joked.  
  
"To the Bat-poles!" Xander announced as he and Willow left the mess hall.  
  
"I hate it when you mix your superhero metaphors."  
  
*  
  
When Willow and Xander got to the briefing room, General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Dr. Jackson were already there. Jack had a bandage on his right forearm. "Where's Teal'c?" Xander asked immediately. "Is he okay?"  
  
"He'll be fine," Samantha answered. "He's in the Infirmary now, he took quite a beating."  
  
"If it wasn't for him we never would have gotten back to the gate," Daniel added.  
  
"What happened?" Willow asked.  
  
"Colonel O'Neill asked that SG-13 be included in this briefing," General Hammond said. "We should wait until the rest of your team gets here. Have a seat Captain Harris, Ms. Rosenberg." Xander and Willow sat at the other side of the table, across from SG-1.  
  
They didn't have to wait long. A minute later Faith walked in with a towel around her neck, wearing track pants and a black sports bra. "Hey guys, what's up? Damn, you guys look like hell," she said, catching a look at SG-1. "Told you you should have let us come."  
  
"I'll remember that next time," Jack said, rubbing his head. Faith took a seat next to Willow.  
  
A moment later, the fourth and final member of SG-13 entered. He snapped to attention and saluted as he entered. "Reporting as ordered, Sir," he barked.  
  
Hammond returned the salute. "At ease, Lieutenant Finn. Take a seat, SG-1 was just about to brief us on their latest mission." Riley nodded and took the last seat next to Faith. "Colonel," Hammond said, turning to Jack.  
  
"Carter, why don't you start," Jack said.  
  
"Yes, Sir. Well, as you know when we first sent a reconnaissance drone through the stargate to PX-201V8, we found a stone tablet with writing on it near the gate. Daniel translated it, and we discovered that it was a warning. It said that their world had been overrun by creatures of enormous strength, who could not be killed and seemed to live forever."  
  
"Yeah, we know all of this already," Faith cut in. "Get to the part where you guys got your asses kicked." Jack shot her a glare. He was hardly a paragon of military discipline, and he understood the need to have civilians on SG teams, but the young slayer got on his nerves sometimes.  
  
"The only other thing the drone saw were ruins, no signs of life," Jack continued. "We thought the tablet referred to vampires, nothing we couldn't handle. Two blasts from a zat and they're dust in the wind. That's why we decided that SG-1 could handle it alone."  
  
"Not vampires then?" Xander asked.  
  
"Bigger," Jack said.  
  
"Slimier," Daniel added.  
  
"With…antlers," Sam finished.  
  
"Chaos demons," Xander and Willow said in unison.  
  
Faith smirked. "Never send a man to do a slayer's job."  
  
"That's enough Ms. Williams," General Hammond warned. "Continue Colonel."  
  
"Teal'c and Daniel explored the ruins, while Carter and I scouted ahead a little further to see if we could find any signs of civilization. We found a couple of stone structures, but no people. We were heading back through the ruins to the temple where we left Teal'c and Daniel when we spotted movement in the distance."  
  
"They were using the ruins to cover their approach," Carter continued. "They seemed to come out of nowhere. If we hadn't have had the little bit of warning that we did, we'd probably be dead. As it was we at least had time to draw our zats."  
  
"I hit one of them with three shots," Jack said. "But they still kept coming."  
  
"How many were there?" Xander asked.  
  
"Three," Jack said.  
  
"Were they wearing clothing? Did they speak at all?" Willow asked.  
  
"No, no clothes," Jack said. "And all I heard were grunts. Does that really matter?"  
  
"Demons evolve in much the same way that humans do," Willow said. "It's important to know where they are developmentally. These guys sound like primitives. What about the buildings you saw, how advanced do you think the people of this planet were?"  
  
"Mostly stonework," Daniel answered. "From what little I saw of the writings in the temple, I'd guess they were middle to late Iron Age equivalent. I saw pictographs depicting swords and other metal tools."  
  
"What about any Goa'uld influence?" Riley asked. "Did you see any reference to the Egyptian gods?"  
  
"No, none," Daniel answered.  
  
"Anyway, after they attacked we radioed Teal'c and Daniel and told them we were bugging out," Jack continued. "Teal'c's staff weapon did a little more damage on these guys, it slowed them down but it didn't stop them. One of them managed to gore Teal'c. He tried to block the antlers with his staff, but he was only partially successful. He still got stabbed. When they were on the ground, he fired his staff weapon again at close range. This time he took the thing's head off. We managed to hold off the other two with zats enough to get us back to the gate. They followed us until Carter dialed us home and the gate opened. I guess it must have spooked them, they took off."  
  
"Thank you, Colonel." Hammond said with a nod when O'Neill was finished with his report.  
  
"Sir, I recommend we send a couple UAV's up to scout as much of the surrounding area as possible and see if there are any humans left on this planet," Xander said. "I also recommend that my team be sent in to clean house and evac any refugees."  
  
Hammond nodded. "Alright, you have a go Captain Harris," he said. "Just be careful."  
  
"We always are, Sir."  
  
The General nodded again. "You leave in one hour."  
  
*  
  
Ten minutes after the briefing, Willow found Xander in the base's gym, doing pull-ups on the bar in the corner. His shirt was off, and there was a thin sheen of sweat covering his skin. She took a moment to admire how much more toned he had become in the last year and a half. Serving in the SGC definitely agreed with him.  
  
"I thought I might find you here," Willow said. "We're leaving on a mission in forty-seven minutes, don't you have anything better to do?"  
  
"It takes me all of ten minutes to get dressed for duty," Xander replied between pull-ups. "You know how tense I get before a mission." Another pull-up. "I'm just trying to work off some of that nervous energy."  
  
"Well, don't work off too much. You don't look that nervous to me." The fact was, Willow didn't appear to be nervous either. But Xander knew her well enough to read her, she was. She was just enough of a professional that she didn't let it show, and she didn't let it interfere with her work.   
  
Her eyes locked onto the tattoo that now graced Xander's right bicep. It was the upside down V shape that had become the symbol for the SGC, the seventh chevron. Above it in block letters it read, 'USAF - SGC'. And below it in cursive script, it read 'Lucky 13'. Willow still wasn't used to seeing it on the body of her best friend, it just seemed so strange, so anti-Xander. It happened the night after they got back from PX-1109B2, five days previous. Xander and Riley went out and got drunk that night. They weren't falling down, sloppy drunk according to Xander. But they were buzzed. They showed up the next day at the base with identical tattoos on their arms. Faith thought they were great, but not exactly her style she said. She already had barbwire tattoos on both biceps, but she promised to get something in the near future to commemorate her service to SG-13 along with her teammates. Willow declined. Considering how dangerous their line of work was, and the possibility that someday her parents might get that phone call from General Hammond, well, she just wanted to make sure that they'd be able to bury her in a Jewish cemetery, as she knew would be their wish. And that meant no body art.   
  
General Hammond on the other hand was not pleased at all. He was ready to march the pair down to the infirmary and have Dr. Fraiser laser them off, but Xander pointed out that the tattoos gave away no secret information that their uniforms didn't already. General Hammond finally agreed to let them keep them, though he still wasn't happy about it. Which prompted Faith to announce that if she did decide to get a similar tattoo, she would make sure that she put it someplace where the General had no business looking, which left most of the men in the room blushing. Riley hadn't been too happy about it at first either, blaming Xander for talking him into it while they were drunk. Xander offered to pay for the laser surgery, but whether it was the idea of the pain or that Riley secretly did like the tattoo, he declined. He tended to keep it covered up though whenever he could. Xander on the other hand was always proud to show it off, along with the body that he worked hard to maintain.  
  
Xander let go of the bar and landed on the floor. He picked up a towel from a nearby stationary bike and wiped the sweat off his face. "You're staring again," he said. This time however, he knew why. "Does it really bother you that much?"  
  
"It isn't the tattoo that bothers me, it's the reason you got it."  
  
"You mean because I was drunk?" He almost sounded afraid when he said it, and he was. Afraid he had disappointed Willow.  
  
"No, Xander, not that. I know you don't drink that often, and when you do you can handle it. You're not your father, and you'll never become him, no matter how much you drink. It's just not in you." Xander just smiled and nodded slightly, silently acknowledging the encouragement and thanking her for it. "I'm talking about what happened on PX-1109B2, and what almost happened. The reason you and Riley went out and got drunk. That tattoo will always be a reminder of that."  
  
"Willow," Xander said softly. He held his arms open and Willow stepped into them and hugged him back. "It's meant to be a reminder of everything that's happened here in the last year and a half, the good and the bad. I had been thinking about getting it for a while, way before PX-1109B2. I just…I've lost so much over the years, we all have. I wanted something that I couldn't lose, something that I'll have for the rest of my life to remind me of what we're doing here."  
  
Willow pulled back enough to look Xander in the eye. "You won't lose me, Xander. Not ever again, I promise."  
  
Xander smiled. "I know, Wills." They both still had a lot of regrets over the way they had drifted apart those last few years in Sunnydale and afterwards. But they were working through it together.  
  
"Good," Willow said. It was at that moment that she realized that she was hugging a shirtless Xander, and that her hand was resting on a rather well defined bicep. She coughed slightly and looked away as she stepped out of the embrace, fighting the blush that was creeping up her face.  
  
Xander chuckled. "You're blushing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were hot for my bod," he said jokingly, striking a pose. Willow laughed, her embarrassment forgotten. "Of course, we all know that you're a fan of the fairer sex. Especially Major Carter."  
  
Willow's smiled turned into a glare. "You're not going to let me forget that, are you?"  
  
Xander laughed. "Sorry Wills, I love you, but no."  
  
"You get a little tipsy at one office Christmas party and start hitting on your female superior officer who doesn't know your gay, and your best friend just can't let you forget it." She was trying to sound indignant, but she could help but smile.  
  
Xander smiled too. "You're right, I'm sorry. I won't mention it again."  
  
"I appreciate that, thank you."  
  
"Your welcome. We should probably get ready," Xander said, checking his watch. He pulled his tee shirt back on and walked toward the door with Willow. "I'm sure Major Carter will want to say goodbye before we go."  
  
Willow smacked Xander on the arm. His laughter could be heard ringing through the halls of Cheyenne Mountain.  
  
*  
  
Forty some odd minutes later, Xander was standing in the gate room with the rest of his team, watching the disc on the stargate spin as it dialed out. Klaxons sounded, warning people to stay clear of the gate as it dialed, and a voice spoke over the intercom announcing every chevron that locked into place.  
  
"Chevron six…encoded. Chevron seven…locked."  
  
The gate lit up and flushed sideways as the wormhole was established. No matter how many times Xander saw it, it never failed to fill him with amazement. So beautiful, and yet at times so frightening. You never really knew what to expect on the other side, no matter how many precautions you took.  
  
"Stand clear of the launch pad," the Sergeant's voice came over the PA again. Xander glanced at where the UAV sat on its pad, making sure that everyone was clear. After a second its rockets came to life, and the automated drone blasted into the air and through the stargate.  
  
Willow looked down at the device in her hand, the link to the UAVs as a group of soldiers lifted the second one onto the launch pad. A few moments later it blasted through the gate as well.  
  
"Second UAV away," the Sergeant announced.  
  
"Receiving telemetry from both," Willow announced, looking down at her remote unit. "Commencing grid search."  
  
"Good luck, SG-13," General Hammond said over the intercom.  
  
Xander turned and nodded to his superior through the observation window before turned back to his team. Willow tucked the remote unit for the UAVs onto her belt and did a last minute equipment check. She carried most of their communications and surveillance gear, and a zat on her thigh for protection. Xander carried a zat as well, along with a MP5. Riley had a MP5 too, along with C4 and some other explosives in his pack. Faith traveled light, a broadsword tucked between her and her pack. They all carried emergency field rations and water, in case their stay ended up being longer than planned.  
  
"Alright team, let's move out," Xander said, leading the way up the ramp. Watching the gate may have always filled him with amazement, but stepping through it still gave him chills. Something about the idea of his body being sent hurdling through the galaxy at untold speeds. He tried not to think about it though. He just held his breath, and stepped through. The rest of his team followed behind him.  
  
*  
  
February 9, 2005  
  
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  
  
Xander pulled his jacket around himself tighter as he stepped out of the bar and into the bitter Philadelphia winter. He silently asked himself for what seemed like the hundredth time why he couldn't have picked Miami, or Dallas, or New Orleans, or one of the other hundred Southern cities where it wasn't currently thirty degrees outside. Of course, he never really picked where he went, he just sort of ended up there. Sometimes he was on the trail of something, sometimes he just followed his curiosity, and sometimes he just took the first bus or train that was leaving, regardless of where it was going. At the moment, he couldn't remember which had led him to Philly, and he didn't much care.  
  
He pushed his hands into his pockets as he made his way down Delaware Avenue, the city's hotspot for nightlife of the human variety. It was after midnight, close to closing time for most of the bars judging by the throngs of people that clogged the sidewalk. A group of less than sober Eagles fans poured out of a sports bar ahead of him, hooting and hollering, celebrating the Superbowl victory from nearly a month before no doubt. Xander tried to pass them, but one heavyset man with a goatee blocked his path. "Eagles, Woooohoooo!" he yelled. Xander stepped around the drunken idiot without comment and continued on his way. "Must be a Raiders fan," the man said, covering his left eye with his hand, mimicking Xander's eye patch. "ARRRRRR!" His friends laughed.  
  
"Jackass," Xander muttered to himself. Most of the people on the sidewalk were just milling around, waiting for cabs or friends. So when Xander heard footsteps keeping pace behind him, he noticed. And when the footsteps were still there after his detour with the Eagles fans, he started getting worried. He sped up and slowed down a few times, and each time the footsteps behind him matched his pace. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder, he didn't want to tip off whomever, or whatever was following him. He ducked down a side street, keeping his pace casual.  
  
He kept this up for nearly twenty minutes, taking smaller and smaller streets until he was far away from the crowds of drunken club goers, and the streets were practically deserted. Xander was getting ready to turn around and confront his pursuer, when a woman's scream cut through the night. Xander couldn't help but roll his eye. "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it," he mumbled to himself. His shadow temporarily forgotten, he took off at a full run down the alley where he heard the scream come from.  
  
Xander saw two backlit silhouettes as he got to the front of the alley. The smaller of the two was cowering on the ground, while the bulkier one stood above her. The telltale growling noises he heard told him he wasn't dealing with just a mugger. He pulled a stake out of his pocket as he ran toward the demon. When facing a stronger enemy, the element of surprise was crucial. And nothing is more surprising when you're getting ready to eat than somebody jumping on your back and punching you in the face repeatedly. The vampire staggered around angrily for a few moments before backing into the alley wall, slamming Xander against it. He fell to the ground still clutching his stake as the vampire turned to face him.   
  
"Stupid human, just for that I'm going to make your death especially painful," the creature said as it stepped into the light of the nearby streetlamp, giving Xander his first clear look at the demonic-visaged behemoth.  
  
Xander just stood up silently. No pithy comeback, no witty banter, he just prepared himself for the attack to come. He didn't have to wait long before the vampire made a sloppy swipe at him with the back of his hand, leaving his chest unguarded. Xander easily ducked under the swing and drove his stake home. The vampire's face had just enough time to register surprise before it disintegrated into ash. The whole fight took less than ten seconds.  
  
Xander brushed the dust off of his jacket and put the stake back in his pocket. He slowly walked over to the woman who was still cowering on the alley floor, looking up at him in shock. "Are you okay?" he asked her. She didn't respond, she just kept staring at him. "Do you need to go to the hospital?" Finally, she shook her head no.  
  
"What…what was that thing?"  
  
"A bad dream," Xander said, holding out his hand to help her up. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. "At least that's what you'll tell yourself tomorrow. Do you live near here?"  
  
She nodded, still in shock. "Up the street."  
  
"Go home, lock your doors, get a good night's sleep. Everything will seem better in the morning, I promise. And no more shortcuts through dark alleys at night, okay?"  
  
"Okay," she said, moving numbly back toward the street. "Okay."  
  
Xander watched her walk up the street until she got to her house and went inside. He knew she'd be okay, that by tomorrow she will have convinced herself that the whole thing never happened. It was the way the human mind worked, it rejected what it couldn't understand.  
  
To the man creeping up behind Xander, he looked lost in thought. Like he wasn't paying any attention to the world around him. It wasn't until Xander whirled around and he found himself staring down the barrel of a .45 that he realized how wrong he was.  
  
"Boy did you pick the wrong guy to mug," Xander snarled, adjusting his grip on the pistol.  
  
The man raised his hands slowly. Xander noticed that he didn't look scared, only annoyed. "How do you know I'm not a vampire?" the man asked.  
  
"I've heard you tailing me since I left the bar, not even newbies are that loud. Besides, a vamp wouldn't have flinched at the gun."  
  
"I'm not a mugger. My name is Colonel Jack O'Neill, I'm with the Air Force."  
  
Xander looked the man up and down. "Are you armed?" he asked after a moment.  
  
Jack paused. "Yes," he said simply.  
  
Xander just stared at the man, unmoving. After a few seconds he lowered his gun. "I appreciate your honesty. You want to tell me what you were doing following me?"  
  
"I have a…proposal for you."  
  
"Sorry, I don't swing that way."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "The Air Force needs your help, Mr. Harris."  
  
"My father is Mr. Harris, call me Xander."  
  
"Let me be straight with you, Xander. The people I work with, we recently discovered the truth about the existence of demons. And we've discovered that they are far more dangerous to humankind than anyone one this planet realizes. We need intelligence. We need people who've dealt with this kind of thing before. In short, we need you."  
  
Xander just stared at the Colonel for a moment before laughing bitterly. "I've had a rough night Colonel, I'm not really in the mood for jokes. So if you'll excuse me…" he drifted off as he turned to walk away.  
  
"People are dying, this isn't a joke."  
  
Xander whirled around. "People have been dying for thousands of years! Just because the Air Force has decided to take notice doesn't mean that's going to change! This is a losing battle, always has been, always will be. You want intelligence, I suggest to look up an old Army project called the Initiative. They'll have all the research you'll need. Just don't make the same mistakes they did." Xander turned away again.  
  
"We already know about the Initiative," O'Neill said. "How do you think we got your name?"   
  
That got his attention. "What?"  
  
"They had extensive files on all the members of your group."  
  
"So why come to me? If you want information, go to the Watchers. If you want muscle, get a slayer. If you want magic, find a witch. I'm none of those things."  
  
"We're still new to all of this. Slayers, witches, vampires, they're all variables to us. My superiors are uncomfortable placing such an important mission in the hands of an unknown. As for the Watchers, they're based in England. And my superiors are also reluctant to ask a foreign power for help with something like this, even if they are an ally."  
  
"Again, why me?"  
  
"The difference between you and them is the difference between choosing and being chosen. You weren't born into this, you weren't destined for it, you don't have any special talents that make you suited for it. You saw what was happening and you chose to fight. That's something we respect."  
  
"Everybody chooses. You can talk about destiny and serendipity until you're blue in the face, at the end of the day we all have free will. I'm not special just because I'm…not special."  
  
"So is this the life you've chosen now? Alone, never staying any one place long enough to get attached to anything or anyone, fighting whatever evil you happen upon."  
  
Xander shrugged. "It's a living."  
  
"I know it might not seem like it right now, but the time will come when you're finished mourning, and you'll want to live your life again. When that happens, if you're interested, we could use your help." Jack pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Xander. "Give us a call." Xander took the card and Jack turned to walk away.  
  
"Wait," Xander said after a second. "What are you offering?"  
  
Jack stopped and turned around. "An honorary commission in the Air Force, provided you pass the physical and an equivalency exam."  
  
"What makes you think I can do that?"  
  
"You have military experience."  
  
Xander looked puzzled for a moment. "The solider memories? Those are long gone. Nothing left but shadows and bad dreams."  
  
"We have…technology that can help you with that. If you want, that is."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"We want your help finding others, approaching them with similar offers."  
  
"I thought you didn't trust slayers and witches."  
  
"We trust you."  
  
Xander paused. "Let's just assume for the moment that I'm interested. Where would I be working?"   
  
"Well, you'll be doing a lot of traveling, but you'll always make it home for supper. Most of the time anyway."   
  
"What part of the Air Force are we talking about here?"  
  
"It's a top-secret program called the SGC. Let's just say when I told you humankind was in more danger than you realize, I wasn't exaggerating."  
  
* 


	2. Part 2

SG-13  
  
By Xodarap  
  
Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, and SFC owns Stargate. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.  
  
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.  
  
Summary: Three years after the end of the series (BtVS), a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead ass.   
  
Author's Note: Special thanks to DaBear, Sirius, Miss Kayl, Big G, Rob Clark, Darklight, Eykar, S.M., charmedfanatic3000, Alexandra, slbwhitewolf, Mytryk, Calia, and WBH21C for the feedback. It's much appreciated.  
  
(BtVS/SG1, W/X)  
  
*  
  
(2/?)  
  
August 13, 2006  
  
PX-201V8  
  
Xander and his team stepped out of the stargate and onto PX-201V8. He let out the breath he had been holding through the billion or so mile trip, and shaded his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the UAV slowly getting smaller on the horizon. The gate closed behind them, and Xander looked to make sure everyone was there.  
  
Willow was staring intently at the UAV remote unit in her hand. "Not picking up anything yet. They could be underground."  
  
"Okay, let's spread out," Xander said. "Riley, Faith, take a look around the ruins. That's where SG-1 was attacked. Willow and I will go this way and see what we can find. Stay sharp."  
  
Riley and Faith nodded as they headed off toward the ruins. Xander and Willow started off in the other direction, Xander cradling his MP5 cautiously while Willow kept an eye on the remote unit's display screen.  
  
"Chaos demons have been known to live in underground caves in some primitive societies. Since even the more modern ones lack any kind of organizational skills, they evolve quicker physically than mentally or socially," Willow said.  
  
"Thanks for the demonology lesson," Xander said.  
  
"What I'm saying is that even though they're big and strong, they wouldn't be able to build a shelter if their life depended on it. They're dependant on existing structures, like caves. However, they have been known to dig tunnels for shelter, or even for hunting in some cases. And considering that the UAVs still haven't picked up any movement or heat signatures large enough to be a Chaos demon, I think it's a reasonable assumption that they're using tunnels. Remember what Sam said, that it seemed like they came out of nowhere?"  
  
Xander sighed as he looked around. "Great, demons popping up like frickin' prairie dogs. 'Cause our lives weren't exciting enough."  
  
"I thought action was your reward."  
  
"Yeah, well, that sounded a lot better in the mess hall than it does out here. Any signs of people or civilization?"  
  
"Nope. Maybe they escaped through the stargate."  
  
"Daniel said late Iron Age, right? What are the odds they could figure it out?"  
  
"The tablet with the warning was near the stargate, that suggests that they at least knew what it was. Besides, Daniel said the *ruins* were late Iron Age. What if the first thing an alien saw of Earth was the Roman Coliseum, what would they think of us? There could be a more advanced civilization here."  
  
"You picking up any radio signals?"  
  
Willow pulled her radio off her belt and scanned through the bands. "No," she said, somewhat dejected.  
  
"No signs of a mass exodus through the gate either," Xander said. "In fact this whole area looks pretty untouched."  
  
"Maybe they left centuries ago," Willow suggested.  
  
"Or maybe they were wiped out centuries ago."  
  
"Pessimist."  
  
"Realist," Xander corrected.  
  
"Okay Mr. Realist, care to put your money where your mouth is? I say they left, you say they're dead."  
  
"And if we don't find evidence either way?"  
  
"Then it's a push."  
  
"Usual terms?"  
  
"Definitely."  
  
They both held out their hands and wrapped their little fingers together, pinky swearing on the bet.  
  
A moment later, Xander's radio barked. "Xander." It was Riley's voice.  
  
Xander grabbed the microphone on the front of his shirt and pressed the button. "Go ahead."  
  
"We found a tunnel entrance hidden in the ruins. A Chaos demon popped right out of it like a frickin' whack-a-mole."  
  
"You guys okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Faith took care of him, no problem. Permission to investigate?"  
  
"Granted, but be careful. We're on our way back. Radio check in fifteen minutes."  
  
"Copy that," Riley said.  
  
Xander turned to a smiling Willow. "Well, that makes one thing I was right about. I'm batting a thousand so far."  
  
"Game ain't over yet," Xander said as the pair turned around and headed back the way they came. "Let's get a move on."  
  
*  
  
December 11, 2004  
  
Cheyenne Mountain  
  
Colorado Springs, CO  
  
"Unscheduled off-world activation!"  
  
Alarm klaxons accompanied the announcement as the entire base was put on alert. General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill arrived at the gate control room just as the incoming wormhole was established. With the iris closed, the only indication the gate was open was the reflection of it's water-like surface on the back wall of the gate room. A battalion of armed men rushed into the room, taking up positions around the gate.  
  
"We're receiving a transmission," the Sergeant seated at the console said. "It's SG-8, Sir."  
  
"They're not due back for another week," Hammond said, mostly to himself. "Open the iris, Sergeant."  
  
The large metallic disc slid open and a moment later a man in a SGC uniform stepped through carrying another man in a fireman's carry. A second after that, two more men came though the gate back first, their weapons still trained on whatever had been chasing them. "Close the iris!" the last man through yelled. A moment later the iris slid shut and they all breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
General Hammond leaned down and spoke into the PA microphone. "Medical team to the gate room, double time!" he ordered, before heading down to the gate room himself, O'Neill following behind him.   
  
"What the hell were those things?" one of the men with the guns asked aloud to no one in particular. He looked shaken up. In comparison, the larger man carrying their injured comrade looked calm, more angry than scared. He slowly lowered the body he was carrying to the deck, a slender man with dirty blonde hair and a bloodied bandage on his neck.  
  
"I don't know, Hauser," the other armed man said. "They didn't look like any snake head I've ever seen, but they sure as hell weren't human."  
  
Hammond and O'Neill entered the room a second ahead of the medical team. "Major Jamison, report," Hammond ordered while Dr. Frasier and another doctor knelt down to examine the injured man.  
  
"We were continuing with our survey of the ruins on P3X209 when we came under attack," Jamison said.  
  
"Jaffa?" O'Neill asked.  
  
"No, Sir. They were…it's hard to explain."  
  
"Take your time, son," Hammond said.  
  
"Humanoid, with ridged brows and sharp pointed teeth. One of them grabbed Dr. Shepard. We opened fire one them, but they just kept coming. It was like…the bullets weren't doing anything."  
  
"Some kind of body armor?" O'Neill guessed.  
  
"No, Sir," Jamison insisted. "They were taking the hits, but they just kept coming. Like they were zombies or something."  
  
"Vampires," the large man said, speaking for the first time since coming through the gate. The others looked at him.  
  
"The one who grabbed Shepard took off with him," Jamison continued. "We tried to go after him, but those things just wouldn't stay down. By the time we found him, he was unconscious, bleeding from the neck. We dressed the wound quickly and hauled ass back to the gate."  
  
"We should have left him behind," the large man said, staring down at Dr. Shepard's body as the doctor's worked on him.  
  
"I told you Mendez, no man gets left behind!" Jamison snapped. "Not on my watch."  
  
"He is not a man," Mendez said, his voice low and solemn. "Not anymore."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Jamison snapped again.  
  
Mendez turned back and faced General Hammond. "I know what those creatures were that attacked us, Sir."  
  
"How could you?" Jamison asked.  
  
Mendez reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out a chain with a crucifix hanging from it. He looked at it for a moment before speaking. "My grandmother used to tell us stories when I was very young. Stories about where she grew up, in Honduras. She told us about the creatures that stalked the night. Stronger than ten men, faster than the wind. They were the living dead she told us, feasting on the blood of the living to survive. Vampires. I thought they were just stories, made up for scaring children. Until I saw one of them myself. I told myself I had imagined it, that what I saw couldn't possibly be real. But I never forgot the face of the monster I saw, the face I still see in my nightmares to this day. It was the same face as the creatures that attacked us. They were vampires General, I'm sure of it. And now Shep is one of them."   
  
For a long few seconds, nobody said anything, they all just stared at Mendez. Even Dr. Fraiser was looking up at him from the floor next to Shepard's body. Finally, Jamison broke the silence.  
  
"Have you lost your mind!"  
  
Hammond just turned to Dr. Fraiser. "How is he, Doctor?"  
  
"I'm sorry Sir, he's dead. There wasn't anything we could do, he's lost too much blood. You should take a look at this, Sir. Here around the wound on his neck, there appear to be teeth marks."  
  
Hammond looked down at the body and then back up at Mendez. "We have to burn the body," Mendez said. "As quickly as possible."  
  
"That's enough." Hammond said. "I know you and Dr. Shepard were friends son, but I just want the facts here, not folklore and fairy tales. His body will be turned over to his family, and furthermore…"  
  
The General was cut off when Shepard's hand shot out and grabbed Dr. Fraiser's arm, causing her to yell out. "He's alive! Somebody get a ventilator in here…"  
  
"Get away from him Doctor, now!" Mendez warned. But it was too late. Before anyone else could react, Shepard sat up and wrapped his other arm around Dr. Fraiser's neck.  
  
"I'd really rather she didn't," Shepard said around his new fangs. Everyone around him jumped back, except Mendez. He didn't budge an inch.  
  
"Holy shit!" Jamison exclaimed. "That…that's what their faces looked like, just like that."  
  
"Seal this room!" Hammond barked. The exits quickly slid shut as the combat team took aim at the vampire.  
  
"Let her go Shepard," Jack said. "We can help you."  
  
"Shepard is dead, Colonel," Mendez said, not taking his eyes off the vampire. "That thing is just a demon wearing his face."  
  
Shepard rose to his feet, dragging Fraiser with him. "Come on Charlie, you're hurting my feelings. I thought we were friends," Shepard said to Mendez with a wicked smile. "I'm still your old pal Shep. The same guy you eat lunch with, the same guy you told your grandmother's stories to. Remember the dig in Honduras next month, you were going to try to come with me.  
  
"I tell you what, I'll turn you and then we can share her. We'll walk out of here together, what do you say?"  
  
"You're not leaving this room alive," Mendez said, his expression cold as ice as he took a step closer to the vampire.  
  
Shepard smirked. "And who's going to stop me? You? Those guns are useless against my kind, you know that."  
  
"Maybe," Mendez said taking another step closer. "But this isn't." And with that, he reached out and opened his hand, exposing the crucifix he still held there. Shepard instinctually cringed away from it, giving Mendez an opening to grab Fraiser out of the vampire's grasp and push her clear before jumping on top of him and tackling him to the ground.  
  
A second later, Mendez was launched into the air and halfway across the room, landing hard on the floor. Shepard stood up and growled, there was a cross-shaped burn mark on his cheek. He touched it tentatively and winced. "You're going to pay for that, blood bag," he growled.  
  
O'Neill and Fraiser rushed over to Mendez. His face was twisted in pain but he was still conscious. Fraiser leaned down to check his vital signs while Jack looked up at the vampire stalking toward them. No one was quite sure what to do. They had all heard Jamison and Shepard both say that guns did nothing against these creatures, which left them with very few options.  
  
Jack reached behind his back and pulled out a zat. He had grabbed it from the weapons locker in the gate room while Shepard was busy with Mendez. He took aim at the approaching demon and fired once. Shepard staggered as the shot hit him, but he didn't lose his footing. His eyes shut as he growled in pain, shaking his head to clear it. It looked to be slowing him down, but it wasn't knocking him out. O'Neill turned and looked at Hammond. The General frowned and nodded once. Jack turned, raised the weapon and fired again. Shepard howled in pain as his knees hit the floor. Everyone watched as before there eyes his body started to turn brown, withering like a piece of fruit that had been left out two long, before exploding into dust.  
  
A few seconds of stunned silence filled the room as everyone tried to comprehend what they had just seen. Dr. Fraiser broke the silence. "I need some help over here! He's bleeding internally, we have to get him to the infirmary!" The medical team that had been dispatched for Dr. Shepard snapped into action, loading Mendez onto a gurney and rushing him out of the room.  
  
"Stand down," Hammond ordered the combat team. They lowered their weapons and slowly started filing out of the room. The General walked over to where O'Neill and the remaining two members of SG-8 stood. "What just happened here?" he asked.  
  
"I wish to God I knew, Sir," O'Neill said. "I wish to God I knew."   
  
*  
  
August 13, 2006  
  
PX-201V8  
  
"Stay sharp."  
  
Riley and Faith nodded before heading off towards the ruins, while Xander and Willow started in the other direction. Riley cradled his MP5 as he watched the area ahead intently, looking for any signs of danger. In contrast Faith's expression was much more casual, like it was just another Sunday afternoon stroll. She slowly rolled her head from shoulder to shoulder, stretching out the kinks as she pulled at the straps on her back, readjusting them.  
  
"I hate having to carry all this crap," she complained. "I feel like I can't move. Slayers are supposed to travel light, we're like…golfers."  
  
Riley's brow furrowed in confusion. "Okay, I'll bite. How are slayers like golfers?"  
  
"Golfers travel light, they have to keep their head in the game, they have to concentrate. So, they have a caddy who follows them around, carrying all their stuff, giving them advice on which club to use. See, the caddies are like watchers."  
  
"You've given this analogy a lot of thought, haven't you?"  
  
"Do you think General Hammond would let me bring a caddy on missions? Just picture it, some dude in ugly pants carrying a golf bag full of weapons. 'I think you should use the broadsword for this shot, Ms. Williams.' It would be great." Riley just stared at her for a moment like she had grown a second head. "It was just an idea."  
  
"Why don't we save the jokes for later and concentrate on what we're doing here?"  
  
"Oh, lighten up Cornbread," Faith said. "Like we haven't done this a hundred times before."  
  
"Be that as it may, I don't have super strength, speed and healing to fall back on if we get ambushed."  
  
Faith rolled her eyes. "Here we go again," she sighed. "You know, Xander doesn't have any special powers either, you don't hear him bitching every five minutes. Plus, he would have laughed and appreciated my attempt to lighten the mood."  
  
"First of all, I am not 'bitching'. I'm just pointing out that this job is a little harder for those of us without powers, and I'd like a little credit for that once in a while. Secondly, Xander is a professional when it comes to the job. He's not the same lovable goofball he was back in high school."  
  
"See, that's where you're wrong Cornbread. He may have gotten his soldier mojo back thanks to the Tok'ra, but deep down he's still the same old Xander he ever was. And thank God for that. This job is hard enough as it is, can you imagine if we had gotten some regular Air Force hard ass instead of the X-Man? I wouldn't be here, Willow sure as hell wouldn't be here, and you want to know something? I don't think you would be here either. Xander is the glue that holds this team together."  
  
"I agree," Riley said. "But it's not because he laughs at your jokes!"  
  
"Fine, but it's not because he's all G.I. Joe either!"  
  
"No, it's because he's both! Because he can bridge the gap between the military and the supernatural so easily, because both us and the Air Force trust him so implicitly."  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
Riley's face scrunched in confusion. "If we agree, what are we arguing about?"  
  
Faith opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again, her own face taking on a puzzled expression. "I don't know," she admitted. She smiled, which after a moment turned into a laugh, which after another moment was joined by another from Riley.  
  
"There's that smile," she said. "I knew I'd get you to lighten up."  
  
"You're right you know," Riley said after a moment.  
  
"Natch," Faith replied. "But just so we're on the same page, which one of the many things I'm right about are you referring to?"  
  
"I wouldn't have joined the SGC if it hadn't been for Xander. They couldn't tell us what the project was about until after we joined, so all Sam and I had to go by was Xander's assurance that it was worth it. He has this way of making you trust him. It's like…" Riley trailed off, not being able to find the words.  
  
"Like a blanket of empathy," Faith supplied. "Like you can tell just by looking at him that he understands every emotion you're feeling even before you understand it yourself. I used to think he had enough compassion for the whole world. Turns out he has enough for a whole slew of new ones too." Faith turned and noticed Riley staring at her. "What?"  
  
"Sorry, that's just…really poetic. I'm surprised is all."  
  
"Get bent, Cornbread."  
  
Riley chuckled. "Now that's more like the Faith I know."  
  
They continued on in silence for a few minutes until Riley spotted something. "Do you see that?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"That broken pillar, there's loose dirt underneath it." The pillar Riley pointed to was leaning against a stone wall at a twenty degree angle. The dirt under the end touching the ground was in fact loose, in contrast to the hard, dry soil that covered the rest of the area. Riley approached it slowly, keeping his gun at the ready. Faith followed behind him, watching his back.  
  
Riley squatted down next to the column and pulled a flashlight form his belt. He shined the light under the pillar, exposing a large hole in the ground. He moved the light around as he looked inside. "Willow said they might be underground. Looks like a tunnel," he said.  
  
"And the shadow this pillar casts covers it perfectly," Faith added.  
  
"These demons might be primitive, but they're not stupid."  
  
"How do we know the people on this planet didn't dig it?" Faith asked.  
  
"The loose dirt at the end there, it's from moving the pillar up and down repeatedly. See how deep it's dug into the ground? This isn't just camouflage, it's a door."  
  
Faith nodded. "And no human would be able to lift this thing."  
  
"Except maybe a slayer," Riley said looking up at her.  
  
Faith smiled and cracked her knuckles. "Stand back."  
  
Riley tucked the flashlight back into his belt and stood back from the pillar. Faith reached out and hooked her arms under the stone column and started to lift. For a second, it didn't look like the thing was going to budge. But slowly Faith managed to lift it, higher and higher until one final push sent it falling to the ground with a loud thud, fully exposing the tunnel entrance.  
  
Riley stepped closer and peered down into the hole. "I wonder how deep it goes," he pondered aloud.  
  
Faith was dusting herself off when her head snapped up. "Get down!" she yelled as she rushed toward Riley, shoving him away. Not a second later a snarling Chaos demon flew out of the hole, backhanding Faith across the face as it landed, sending her tumbling to the ground.  
  
"Shit!" Riley cursed as he brought his MP5 up and fired it. The bullets struck the demon in the chest, but it barely seemed to notice as it roared at him.  
  
Faith was back on her feet in a heartbeat. "Come on Ugly, I'm the one you want!" she shouted. Just as the demon turned to face her, it caught a roundhouse kick to the face from the raven-haired slayer. It staggered back, narrowly avoiding falling back through the hole. Faith kept on the creature, delivering a right cross that snapped its head back and a kick to the midsection. The demon made a few clumsy swipes, which she easily dodged. Another kick to the face and the demon hit the ground. Faith drew her sword and brought it down through the creature's neck, decapitating it.   
  
Riley rushed to Faith's side. "Are you okay?"  
  
Faith nodded, catching her breath. "Five by five," she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cloth, using to wipe her sword clean of the demon's blood.  
  
Riley nodded as he reached over and pressed the button on the radio mike clipped to his shirt. "Xander," he said into it.  
  
A second later, Xander's voice came through the radio. "Go ahead."  
  
"We found a tunnel entrance hidden in the ruins. A Chaos demon popped right out of it like a frickin' whack-a-mole."  
  
"You guys okay?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yeah, Faith took care of him, no problem. Permission to investigate?"  
  
"Granted, but be careful. We're on our way back. Radio check in fifteen minutes."  
  
"Copy that," Riley said. He let go of the radio and turned back to Faith, who was replacing the now clean sword to the scabbard on her back. "Ready?"  
  
"As I'll ever be," Faith replied.  
  
Riley nodded as he took out his flashlight again and shined it into the hole. "Then let's go earn our paychecks."  
  
* 


	3. Part 3

SG-13

By Xodarap

Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, and SFC owns Stargate. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.

Summary: Three years after the end of the series (BtVS), a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead ass.

Author's Note: Special thanks to DaBear, Sirius, Miss Kayl, Big G, Rob Clark, Darklight, Eykar, S.M., charmedfanatic3000, Alexandra, slbwhitewolf, Mytryk, Calia, WBH21C, RickW22, lmichelle1, Jwolf, Enjael, lmichelle1, Jen007, and Thundertb for the feedback. It's much appreciated.

(BtVS/SG1, W/X)

(3/?) 

_March 11, 2005  
New York, NY_

Kennedy sat at the foot of the bed staring at the wall with a frown on her face. Behind her, Willow was packing a suitcase. The sound of the hangers scraping against the metal rod as Willow moved another handful of clothes from the closet echoed through the room, a testimony to how quiet it was.

"I still can't believe you're leaving," Kennedy said softly, breaking the silence.

"Xander needs me," Willow said

"And what about what you need? What about finishing college, what about having that normal life we talked about?"

"People like us don't get normal lives."

"That's a cop out and you know it. There's always a choice, nobody is forcing you to go."

Willow stared down at her suitcase for a moment. Kennedy was right, there always was a choice. Something Xander once said suddenly struck her. "We're all chosen, chosen to know the truth. What we do after that is up to us." She paused. "Xander said that, back in high school when we first got caught up in…all this. I don't think I really understood what he meant at the time. Years later when we graduated, I had a choice. I could go off to some Ivy League school and leave the Hellmouth behind, or I could stay and fight. I chose to fight, and it's a choice I've made a thousand times since then, and one I'll make a thousand times more. I can't just ignore what is happening in the world. Not when I can so something about it. So you're right, it is my choice."

"That's not the only choice you're making," Kennedy said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're choosing him over me."

"This isn't about you, and it isn't about him!" Willow insisted. "It's about the fight."

"You don't know what this is about because Xander won't tell you!"

"He told me that he found a new mission, that it's important, and that he needs my help. That's all I need to know."

"See, that's exactly my point. All he has to do is crook his finger and you come running. How am I not supposed to see that as you choosing him over me?"

Willow just shook her head as she headed back to the closet for more clothes. "You're acting like a child, everything doesn't have to be a competition. You're free to come with me, Xander said. In fact his exact words were, the more the merrier. So don't act like I'm the only one making a choice here."

Kennedy sighed. "I just…I want a normal life again. Where the biggest problems I have are that I'm failing chemistry and I have a zit on my nose, not am I going to live to see the next day. I want to go to the movies, or for a walk in the park on a sunny day. And I want my girlfriend to live in the same state as me. Is that really so much to ask for?" Kennedy asked as she reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Willow sat down next to her on the bed. "No, it's not," she said. "Unfortunately being with me and having a normal life are pretty much mutually exclusive." She paused. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Kennedy turned and wrapped her arms around Willow, hugging her tightly. Willow hugged her back, smoothing down her hair. "I guess this is it then," Kennedy said into Willow's shoulder.

"I guess so," Willow said, her voice cracking a little. The hug was no different than a hundred others they had shared, but it felt different to her. It felt like goodbye, and Willow hated goodbyes.

She kissed Kennedy on top of the head and broke the hug. She walked back over to her suitcase and zipped it up, lifting it off the bed and setting it on the floor. She picked up her backpack from next to the bed and slung it over her shoulder. She locked eyes with Kennedy. So many things she wanted to say, but nothing sounded right.

"You'll get your happy ending some day, I promise," she said. "And I'll just be a fond memory you look back on now and then." She just couldn't bring herself to say goodbye, so instead she just leaned down and kissed her on the lips gently. One last kiss that would have to live in both their memories for a long time.

Then she stood, picked up her suitcase and walked out the door. Out of Kennedy's life forever.

Kennedy reached up and touched her lips. "Goodbye," she whispered, to the empty room.

_August 13, 2006  
PX-201V8_

Xander shined his flashlight down into the hole they found in the ruins. "Big frickin' prairie dogs," he mumbled to himself. There was a rope tethered to a nearby pillar, which led down the hole, no doubt left behind by Riley and Faith, so he was sure they had the right hole. That and the decapitated corpse of a Chaos demon that laid a few yards away. Xander followed the rope down with his light and whistled.

Willow looked up from where she was examining the demon's body. "What?"

"Nothing," Xander said. "I'm just not big on heights, you know that."

"Want me to hold your hand?" Xander replied by subtly scratching his good eye with his middle finger. Willow just laughed.

"Find anything interesting?" he asked.

"Nothing I didn't already know," she said. "No clothes, a primitive. The hooves are more curved than usual, for digging. The pupils are large, compensating for the lack of light. It's definitely a tunnel dweller. It looks emaciated, which is to be expected. The UAV's still haven't picked up any large animals, and of course no people so there's not much around for them to eat."

"I guess these guys aren't big on salads."

"Not so much, no. My guess is a small population. With their natural prey gone, they're dying out."

"What a shame," Xander said mockingly. "What do you say we climb down and give them a hand with that."

Willow stood from where she was crouched next to the demon's body and dusted her hands off. "Lay on, McDuff," she said, motioning toward the hole.

"You better go first, I might need something to break my fall."

"Very funny," Willow said. Xander just smirked.

Willow took out her own flashlight and shined it down the hole. She then clipped it to her belt, leaving it turned on, and closed her eyes. A moment later she began to levitate off the ground. Slowly, she floated forward, and then down through the hole.

"Show off," Xander muttered under his breath. He walked around the hole to where the rope was. He hooked his own flashlight to his belt before picking up the rope and clipping it to the metal ring also attached to his belt. He pulled the rope behind him and held it with both hands before leaning back and testing the line with his weight. Slowly but surely, he started to repel down into the hole. A few minutes later, he reached the bottom.

Willow was already examining the tunnel walls with her flashlight while he unhooked himself from the line. "Took you long enough," she teased with a smile.

"We can't all be Superman, some of us have to be Jimmy Olsen," Xander said.

"I could have given you a lift."

"Thanks, but no. If I'm going to be dangled a hundred feet in the air, I'm at least going to have something to hang on to."

"Suit yourself."

"You find something?"

"Yeah, take a look at this," Willow said, leading him down the tunnel a few yards. She shined her light on an opening to an adjoining tunnel. Xander looked inside.

"It's another tunnel, so?"

"So, look at the size. It's much smaller than the one we're in."

Xander nodded. "Too small for a Chaos demon to fit through," he said, finishing Willow's thought.

"If there are still humans here, they could be using these tunnels to hide from the demons."

"It's worth checking out," Xander said. He reached for the radio mike on his shirt and pressed the button. "Riley."

A second later Riley's voice came through. "Go ahead."

"We're in the tunnel now. We found an adjacent tunnel that looks about human size, we're going to check it out. Any more action on your end?"

"Nothing so far," Riley said.

"Alright, stay sharp. I know how restless Faith can get."

A second later Faith's voice crackled over the radio. "Bite me, Harris."

Xander smiled. "Maybe some other time, I'm kind of busy right now. Keep in touch guys, and be careful."

"Copy that," Riley answered.

"I'll take point," Xander said. He snapped his flashlight into the top of his P-90 and stepped into the smaller tunnel. "Keep your eyes peeled." Willow nodded and followed behind.

_March 11, 2005  
Colorado Springs, CO_

Xander walked past the guards standing outside what looked to be an elevator, flashing his ID badge at them. Willow followed behind, tentatively holding up her own badge. She looked at it again while they waited for the elevator. Special Visitor's Pass, it said next to her name. Clearance - Sierra Golf Charlie. She didn't know what it meant, but it sounded important.

The flight from New York had been long, filled with soul searching and introspection. She thought a lot about how her and Kennedy had parted ways, about the things they both said. She was sad about it, but in the end she realized that there was really no other way for it to end. They both just wanted different things, and there wasn't anything either of them could do about that. In a way, she felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted from her. The weight of pretending to be a normal college student, pretending that evil wasn't lurking in the shadows around her. She felt like she could be herself again, and she was excited about being able to sink her figurative teeth into a new supernatural problem.

Seeing Xander again was wonderful. He was there when she got off the plane with a hug and a smile, and for a moment it was like the two of them had never been apart. On the ride from the airport they talked and laughed and caught up. Xander asked her about college, and she happily babbled on from there about everything from her classes to what New York was like. He seemed reluctant to talk about what he had been up to when Willow asked, steering the conversation back to her. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

She was about to ask him what this big secret mission was all about, when she noticed that they were pulling up to the entrance of Cheyenne Mountain. Xander wordlessly handed the guard an ID badge, and a minute later, the guard handed Xander back two. He passed the second to Willow as the barrier in front of them lifted and he pulled ahead.

Now they were standing in front of an elevator, waiting, and Xander still hadn't said a word as to what this was all about. The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. Xander pressed the button and the doors slid shut. Willow was starting to get nervous, as images of the Initiative's last days flashed through her mind. "What's this all about Xander, what are we doing here?"

Xander blew out a long breath. It was clear that he wasn't looking forward to this moment. "First let me say, I know what you're thinking. And this is nothing like the Initiative. I've been here for almost a month now, and I've seen what they do. It's an important job, and it has nothing to do with demons. At least, it didn't used to. Well, it mostly still doesn't but…"

"Xander, you're babbling," Willow interrupted.

Xander let out another breath. "I know. I'm no good at explaining things. Okay, let me start again. You know that feeling you get when you're talking to somebody who doesn't know about demons or magic or anything, that feeling like you live in two different worlds. That if they knew what you knew, it would turn their world on its ear."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Okay, have you ever felt like maybe you could be in the same position? That there could be some really, really big secret out there that you don't know."

"I…guess," Willow answered tentatively, not really sure where this was going. "I never really thought about it before, but I guess there has to be. I mean, nobody knows everything, right?"

"Right," Xander agreed. "You see, these people, the SGC, they have a really big secret of their own. And recently they discovered that our secret and their secret…intersect. They discovered the truth about demons and vampires. And not only that, they discovered something about them that no one else knows. That's why they need our help, because we have more experience with this kind of thing than they do."

"But why us? If they need information, why not the Watchers?"

"This project is uber top secret, and they're very careful about who they trust with knowing about it. Somehow they gained access to the Initiative's files, including the files on us. They approached me first because…well, I'm still not really sure why. They say they trust me, but maybe it's just because I'm less of a threat than any of you guys."

"So if they don't trust any of us, why are they letting you bring me here?"

"They know how I feel about you, that I trust you more than anyone else in the universe. They know how powerful you are, they know about…what happened. But they're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and trust you with the biggest secret they have. I think that says something about these guys. I know it probably still sounds a little fishy to you, but I swear, if you decide you don't want any part of it you can walk away at any time and that will be the end of it. All I'm asking is that you hear them out."

Willow paused as she considered what Xander had said. "Okay Xander. I trust you, and if you say these guys are on the up and up, that's all I need to know."

Xander smiled. "Great. We're almost there, then we can start the long part of the explanation. I'm sure you and Dr. Jackson will be talking for hours. He's the second smartest person I know," he said with another smile.

Willow didn't miss the compliment as she smiled back. It was only then that she realized that the elevator had been moving down throughout the whole conversation, and they had been on the ground level when they got on. "How far underground does this place go?" she asked.

"Don't worry," Xander said. "When we get close to the Earth's core the air conditioning will kick on."

Several hours later, Willow and Xander were still in the briefing room with General Hammond and SG-1. Just as Xander had thought, Willow and Daniel sparred like the mental giants they were. It wasn't long before Willow had the whole story, including a live demonstration of the gate opening as SG-11 came back from a mission.

"This is all just…incredible," she said, looking up from the laptop computer Sam had lent her for the briefing. She was looking through everything from technical schematics of Goa'uld technology, to mission reports, to actual video Death Gliders in action. "There's so much to absorb. But what does all of this have to do with demons? What do you need us for?"

All eyes turned to General Hammond. "Approximately three months ago, one of our SG teams came through the gate after being attacked by unidentified creatures. One of the team members had been bitten. He was dead by the time they came through the gate, blood loss. One of the other team members said he knew what the creatures were. He said they were vampires. Of course we didn't believe him, that is until the deceased team member sat up and attacked the doctor who had been treating him. Mendez, the man who knew what he was, attacked the vampire and saved the doctor's life."

Willow noticed how sullen the mood in the room suddenly became. "What happened?"

"He was thrown across the room," Hammond answered. "He later died from internal injuries."

"I'm sorry," Willow said. The General just nodded. "What happened to the vampire?"

"I killed it," Jack said.

"How?" Willow asked.

"Some kind of alien energy weapon," Xander answered when no one else did. "Turned him to dust in two shots."

Willow looked surprisingly at Xander, who just nodded in return. "I didn't think any modern weapon could do that."

"From what they've told me, these zat guns pack some serious firepower. One shot stuns, two kills. As to why they work on vamps, your guess is as good as mine. Actually, it's probably better than mine."

"Mr. Harris," General Hammond said. "That information is classified."

"You remember my terms, General," Xander said. "Anybody I put you in contact with gets the whole story, nothing left out. I'm not letting any of my friends decide whether or not they want to join this operation unless they have all the facts."

Hammond didn't look happy, but he nodded. "Fair enough."

"So what do you think Wills, interested?"

"Definitely," Willow said. "But there's something I still don't understand. Why us? Why me?"

"Easy, we need that giant brain of yours," Xander said. "We still have a lot of unanswered questions."

"Like what?"

"Well," Daniel piped in. "We know that humans were taken from Earth by the Goa'uld, as slave labor."

"The sixty-four billion dollar question," Xander said, "is how did the demons get off Earth?"

_August 13, 2006  
PX-201V8_

Xander kept his light and gun pointed forward as he and Willow moved through the tunnel. Willow shined her light on the tunnel walls as they walked, looking for any markings or other evidence of who had dug the passage.

"Anything interesting?" Xander asked about ten minutes after they started.

"Just that this tunnel was definitely not dug by a Chaos demon, but we already knew that. The walls are too uniform to have been dug by hand, or hoof. And I've spotted a few what appear to be tool marks."

"So what direction do you think this tunnel was dug in?" Xander asked.

"It looks like we're heading toward the point of origin."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. Which makes me wonder, did they intersect the demon tunnels on purpose or by accident?"

"Why would they do it on purpose?"

"I don't know, but it seems like an awful big coincidence if they didn't. Have you noticed the incline, we're moving up."

"Yeah, I noticed. Could be they started in a natural cave, someplace to hide from the demons. Hey, do you see that?"

"What?"

"Kill your light for a second."

Xander put his hand over his light, plunging them into darkness. Up ahead though he saw a faint glow. He took his hand off the light and readjusted the weapon in his hands. "Stay close to me," he said, lowering his voice. "And keep your zat ready, just in case."

Willow nodded. She turned off her own flashlight and clipped it to her belt. She put one hand on Xander's shoulder and drew her zat with the other. Together they continued through the tunnel, their pace a little slower.

As they got closer to the light source, they began to hear sounds. Movement, and possibly voices, it was hard to tell. The tunnel started to widen, and the walls started to look less uniform and more natural. After a few minutes, they found themselves in a large cave. Roughly fifty yards ahead of them was the source of the light, the opening of the cave. And just inside the opening, there was a fire burning. But it was what stood between them and the fire that surprised Xander and Willow the most.

Scattered throughout the cavern, but mostly near the fire, were thirty or so humans. They were dirty, disheveled, and most appeared to be malnourished. Most were adults, but there were a few children as well. Their clothes were nothing more than rags, though several of the men appeared to be wearing pieces of armor. Nothing elaborate, a chest plate here, a shin guard there, all of it dented and tarnished. They also carried swords, and makeshift spears.

It wasn't long before Willow and Xander were spotted. The armed men put themselves between the pair and the others in seconds, approaching them slowly. One man in front appeared to be the leader. He carried a bulky long sword, and wore a chest plate with three diagonal claw marks gouged into it. Xander noticed something tied to bicep of his sword arm as makeshift armor. It was only when he was closer did he realize what it was, a piece of antler.

Xander resisted the urge to fire his gun into the air. He didn't know how stable this cave was, and he didn't want to hurt these people. He felt Willow nudging him from behind. "Say something!" she insisted in a hushed tone.

"Crap."

"Something else!"

"Um, hi," Xander said, putting on a smile as he addressed the men in front of him. They didn't respond, they just kept coming closer. "We come in peace?"


	4. Part 4

SG-13 

By Joss and co. own all things Buffy, and SFC owns Stargate. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

Dedication: To Helen and Nikki, for whom I do everything. And my angels, Jordan and Jessica, may they rest in peace.

Summary: Three years after the end of the series (BtVS), a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead ass.

Author's Note: Special thanks to DaBear, Sirius, Miss Kayl, Big G, Rob Clark, Darklight, Eykar, S.M., charmedfanatic3000, Alexandra, slbwhitewolf, Mytryk, Calia, WBH21C, RickW22, lmichelle1, Jwolf, Enjael, Jen007, Thundertb and weirdfrog for the feedback. It's much appreciated.

(BtVS/SG1, W/X)

(4?)

March 16, 2005 

_Colorado Springs, CO_

It had been five days since Willow was introduced to the Stargate program, since she learned about the existence of things that she never would have imagined exist. But she hadn't spent that time learning more about different alien species, or alien technology, or the physics of wormhole travel the way she would have liked. No, she was buried hip deep in a good old-fashioned demonic mystery. She was almost disappointed, but she understood the importance of her task. How did vampires, and demons as well she assumed, get off of Earth? This question was fundamental in understanding exactly how big a problem they were facing.

She had already worked through and dismissed several hypotheses. One, demons evolved on other planets naturally. She and Daniel looked through quite a few tomes of history and mythology from various alien races, and found no reference to vampires or demons that she recognized. More importantly, it didn't make sense that vampires would evolve exactly the same way on another planet as they had on Earth. And the vampires SG-8 had encountered seemed to have the same strengths and weaknesses as the Earth variety. Theory number two, dimensional portal. Since demons all originate in one way or another from some kind of Hell dimension, she theorized that Hellmouths could have opened on other worlds, and vampires and demons could have spread from there. But again, the evolution followed too close. The vampire that came through the gate with SG-8 was burned by a cross at one point in the fight. This was very telling Willow thought. Which brought her to her current theory. At some point in the past, a group of vampires and possibly other demons somehow left Earth. Most likely, through the stargate.

Willow was trying to put together a library. She never realized how much she had relied on Giles' books until they were gone. All of her books were about magic, not demon history. If the SGC was going to put together a team for the purpose of fighting demons on other worlds, than they would need a decent research library. They gave her a room on the base to work in, as well as quarters where she could stay. Day by day, more books came in, and her workspace was looking more and more like Daniel's. She was spending so much time in her burgeoning library that Xander had taken to bringing her her meals there so she wouldn't forget to eat.

She found a few references to the Chopa'aye, the Goa'uld word for stargate, in several of the demonic history texts she had acquired, but only in passing. Nothing she could find went into any detail as to how, when, or why any demons used it. Or more importantly, where they went. It was time to pull out the big guns she thought, as she dialed a now familiar number into the telephone on her new desk. It rang a few times before someone picked it up.

"Hello."

"Hey Giles, it's me, Willow."

"Willow," Giles said, a smile in his voice. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm okay."

"I haven't heard from you in a few weeks, is everything okay? How's school? Are you having fun in the, oh what do they call it, the big apple?"

"Actually, I'm not in New York anymore. I'm in Colorado."

"Ah, I see," Giles said, not sounding too surprised at all, which just confused Willow. "Helping out Xander then."

"How do you know about that?"

"He wrote me, a week or so ago. He mentioned that he found a new mission, as he put it. Said he was going to ask a few of you for help. He wanted to let me know in case I needed any of you for an emergency or something. I had a feeling you'd go."

"Did he ask you to come?"

"No, he mentioned that he knew how busy I was here in London, otherwise he would of. He said it was another reason he was writing, he didn't want me to feel slighted should I hear about it through the grapevine."

"Did you get the message I left for you the other day?"

"About the books, yes I got it. 'Tobin's Prophecy Guide' and 'Gray's Demonology', not your usual fare. But now that I know you're helping Xander, it makes more sense."

"I'm trying to put together a little research library. Nothing like yours of course, much more meager, just enough to get us by, you know."

Giles chuckled. "It's all right Willow, I understand. Is there something specific you're looking for?"

"Actually yes, that's one of the reasons I called. Have you ever heard of something called the Chopa'aye?"

"It sounds vaguely familiar," Giles said. "What is it?"

Willow paused, choosing her words carefully. "I don't know much, only that it's a portal of some kind. I'm looking for any instances of demons using it en masse."

"Give me a moment."

Through the phone, Willow could hear the sounds of typing. "Giles, am I hearing what I think I'm hearing?" she asked with quite a bit of surprise.

The typing stopped suddenly, almost as if Giles had been caught doing something illegal. "I…well, that is…" he started before sighing. "In my absence the Council had computers installed in their main archive, much to my dismay. I only use the infernal thing out of necessity."

Willow smiled. "That's the same reason we all use them Giles, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Yes, quite. In any case, I believe I've found what you are looking for. Have you ever heard of the Last Age?"

"The Last Age of the Demons, right? The end of demon rule on Earth, when humankind finally drove them away."

"Exactly. There's a reference here to one of the Old Ones, a demon by the name of Ro'chok. It says that during the end of the Last Age, he led his legions through something called the Chopa'aye. The way the word is used implies it's a portal of some kind."

"Does it say where the portal led to?" Willow asked.

"It may. There's a portion of this text that was never translated. Some kind of symbolic language, almost like Egyptian hieroglyphs. Council scholars spent years trying to decipher it, but they never found the language it was written in. It isn't anything we've ever come across, human or demon."

"That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for," Willow said. "Giles, can you send me a copy of that text, along with anything you can find about the Last Age and this Ro'chok guy. It's important."

"Can you tell me what this is about, Willow?"

"Actually, no, I can't."

"I thought as much. Xander's letter was very cryptic as well. I trust that you two know what you are doing."

"We do Giles, I promise."

"All right, I trust you both. I'll have the books and documents for you in a few days. Tell Xander I said hello, and to be careful, both of you."

"We will Giles. Thanks again."

"Any time. Feel free to call me, even if the world isn't ending. I always like hearing from any of you."

Willow briefly wondered if Giles was taking guilt lessons from her mother. "I will," she said.

"Take care."

"You too. Bye."

August 13, 2006 PX-201V8 

"We come in peace! Why didn't you just say take us to your leader!"

"Hey, I didn't hear you coming up with any bright ideas!"

Xander and Willow sat back to back on the floor of the cave, tied together, their wrists and ankles bound. One burly looking human with a sword stood a few feet away watching them. Their captors had yet to say a single word to them, or each other for that matter as far as they could tell. They just poked them a little with their swords and pushed them to the ground, where they tied them up. They didn't even take Xander's gun from him, probably because they didn't know what it was he surmised. Willow had dropped her zat before they tied them up, and Xander's was out of his reach on his thigh.

It didn't make sense. These humans had obviously been fighting the Chaos demons, and the two of them hadn't done anything threatening toward them.

"Why would they tie us up?" Xander wondered aloud.

"Why wouldn't they?" Willow said. "They don't know us. If they've survived this long on a planet with Chaos demons, my guess is they've learned to be cautious."

Xander nodded. "Hence the no talking."

"Sound echoes in a cave. Looks like they've learned to live silently, to avoid attracting any unwanted attention."

"So what do you think they'll do to us?"

"Looks like they're deciding that right now. Look over there by the fire."

Xander looked and saw a group of men gathered by the fire, including the one he had seen earlier with the claw marks on his chest plate. They were gesturing at each other, speaking in some kind of sign language. Their body language told him that Claw, as he nicknamed him in his head, was definitely the leader. "Ah, so that's why my ears are burning. Why don't they just talk to us?"

"We don't even know if they speak English. Or if they remember how to speak at all."

Xander looked at the man who was guarding them. "Hey, Stinky. Your breath smells like wet dog ass, and your feet are on fire."

The man looked down at his feet, which were perfectly fine. He looked back up and sneered at Xander.

"Oh, that's a good idea, antagonize them more."

"At least now we know they understand English."

The guard pointed his sword at Xander and grunted.

'I don't think he wants us to talk anymore,' Willow said in Xander's head. Xander pulled his fingers across his mouth, miming a zipper. The guard sneered again and backed off.

'Yeah, I got that impression too,' Xander thought.

'We have to tell these people that we're not their enemy, that we're here to help them,' Willow thought.

'I'm open to suggestions.'

Xander looked over at the fire again, at what he assumed were the leaders of this group gesturing at each other. Claw and another man with a bushy gray beard seemed to be arguing. Every few seconds the man with the beard would point at them emphatically.

'Check out Grizzly Adams over there,' Xander thought. 'I don't think he likes us very much.'

'What did we ever do to him?' Willow added.

A few more minutes of arguing, and Xander saw Claw dejectedly nod his head, like he was reluctantly agreeing with whatever point Grizzly was making. Grizzly then motioned for two other men to follow him as he turned and headed straight toward Willow and Xander.

'I think we're about to find out.'

Grizzly stopped a few feet away and glared down at them. When he spoke, his voice was quiet but powerful.

"I am Tribe Second. You will answer my questions."

Xander could tell that he wasn't asking, he was telling. "Sure," he answered, keeping his voice as quiet as his.

"How many are you?"

It was English, but by the way he stumbled over the words, Xander could tell he hadn't spoken it in a long time. "Just the two of us," Xander lied. He still didn't know what these people were going to do to them, and he wasn't going to put Riley and Faith in danger.

"How did you survive attack on stronghold?"

"I don't understand."

"How did you survive?"

"We're not from around here, we're just passing through. We want to help you. We're not your enemy."

"You came from the demon tunnel. You have betrayed us to them."

"What? No, no we didn't betray you to anybody. The demons are our enemy too."

"You betrayed us to save your own lives."

"No!" Xander insisted. A little too loudly apparently, the two men on either side of Grizzly stepped forward and pointed their swords at him. "Sorry," he said, lowering his voice again. "We didn't betray you, we're here to help you. We can take you someplace safe, away from the demons."

"Only safe place is caves. Stronghold fell to the demons."

"No, we're not from any stronghold. We're from another…place, very far away, where there are no demons. We can take you there."

Grizzly shook his head. "You try to trick us. The tribe has decided. You are to be put to death for your betrayal."

"What!" Again the guards pointed their swords at Xander.

"The safety of the tribe must come first."

"No! We're not your enemy, we're trying to help you!"

"Silence!" Grizzly gestured to one of the other guards, who produced two strips of cloth. He walked over to Willow and Xander and gagged them. Xander reached for his P-90, but the guard saw him and stopped him. He took the gun away, looking at it strangely. Xander mentally kicked himself.

"The safety of the tribe must come first," Grizzly repeated. "May the gods have mercy on your souls."

August 9, 2006 

_Sullivan's Tavern_

_Colorado Springs, CO_

Xander downed the rest of his beer a put the glass down on the bar. "Set us up again, Sully," he said to the bartender.

"What are we doing here, Xander?" Riley asked from the stool next to him. He slid the empty glass in front of him closer to the bartender as he set two more full glasses of Guinness in front of them.

"What are we doing? We're celebrating the fact that we're still alive. We almost bought it back there on that rock," Xander said, taking a sip of his beer. "Not to mention five days of living off of nothing but rations and rainwater makes a man appreciate a good beer."

"It doesn't feel like we're celebrating," Riley said, taking a sip of his own. There was an awkward pause. "Listen, about what you said back there on that planet…"

"I thought I was going to die, Riley. I wouldn't take anything I said too seriously."

Riley could tell he was trying to play it off, but he had a feeling that there was more to it than that. "You can say what you want, I think you were being real. I'm your friend, I'm not going to say anything to anybody, you know that. But what you said, if that's really how you feel, I think you should do something about it."

Xander snorted a bitter laugh and took another drink from his beer. "It's not exactly that simple," he said.

"Somebody once said that life is the process of going from absolute certainty to absolute ignorance. It happens to me again and again. Just when I think I've finally got a handle on things, that I might actually know what I'm doing, somebody pulls the rug out from under me and turns my world on its ear. Back in high school, I thought I knew what the world was all about, and then I found out bloodsucking demons were walking the street. After Sunnydale became a crater, I thought I knew what evil was, and then I met Jack and found out that evil extended a lot farther than my narrow mind could comprehend.

"And now, my own heart betrays me. I'm finally starting to realize that I'm not certain about anything anymore."

"Are you still sure we're here to celebrate?" Riley asked.

Xander looked dejectedly down at his beer. "Yes," he said after a moment, looking up like the realization just struck him. "Absolutely. Listen to me, feeling sorry for myself. I'm alive, I've got great friends, a great job where I get to make a difference and help people. We should be celebrating. I guess that's the point, right? Nobody is certain about life, nobody's got a handle on things. That's what life is all about, throwing you curve balls."

"Wow, you get philosophical when you're drunk," Riley observed.

Xander ignored him. "You just have to remember. That's what I need, something to remind me of what I do, why I do it, and the people I do it with. Something to remind me that I don't need to be in absolute control of my life, just control the way I handle it."

Xander stood from the barstool and reached for his wallet. He threw a couple bills down and patted his friend on the back. "Come on Riley, we got one more stop to make tonight."

"Oh, Xander, I don't know. Sam's already going to kill me when I come stumbling home tonight. If I show up with a tattoo she'll make me sleep on the lawn."

"I'll let you sleep on my couch."

"Okay, let's go."

Xander smiled and called down to the other end of the bar. "Sully, we'll see you Monday night for the Raiders' game."

"Take it easy, Xander," the bartender called back.

The two friends walked out of the bar, leaning on each other more than a little, and headed straight for the tattoo parlor on the corner.

August 13, 2006 PX-201V8 

Willow and Xander sat bound, and now gagged, on the floor of the cave. The home of what appeared to be the last group of humans left alive on this planet. Several of which were now sharpening swords, preparing for their execution. Xander was mentally beating himself up as he tried to subtly reach for the zat on his thigh. It was no good though, the rope that wrapped around he and Willow kept his arms from reaching far enough.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' Xander mentally chided himself.

'Xander, this isn't your fault.'

'The hell it isn't. I take it you can't make with the mojo.'

'I can't move my hands, and I can't speak, which means I can't cast.'

'If I'd just kept my mouth shut they wouldn't have gagged us. Damn it! Can you reach my zat?'

'No. Even if one of us could reach it, you'd only get a couple shots off before they killed us. And I don't think that would go a long way toward proving that they're wrong about us.'

'Too late for that. We can't convince them of anything if they won't listen to us.' Xander tried reaching for his zat again, but there just wasn't enough give in the rope. 'Damn it!' he cursed again in his head. He let out a groan of frustration as he let his head fall back against Willow's.

Xander forgot for a moment that Willow was listening to his thoughts. 'This is exactly what I was afraid of. I was right, I can't cut it. And now Willow is going to die, and it's all my fault, and there's nothing I can do about it. If I could just…reach…DAMN! I'd kill every last one of them if it meant saving Willow. Or at least I'd die trying, instead of tied up and slaughtered like an animal.'

'Xander, no,' Willow projected. 'You can't think like that, don't ever think like that.'

Xander's head shot up as he remembered she could hear what he was thinking. He realized what nerve he touched, remembering what happened after Tara was killed. Never had he understood it as much as he did now.

'This is not you're fault. What do you mean, you can't cut it, that this is exactly what you were afraid of?'

Xander wasn't going to answer at first. He was trying to keep all of this from her. But one look at the men sharpening their blades changed his mind. 'End of the line,' he thought. 'No reason to hold anything back now.

'Back on PX-1109B2, I had a lot of time to think while me and Riley were lying in that ditch. Maybe they made a mistake, making me a Captain, putting me in command of SG-13. I led us straight into that ambush, and we almost didn't make it out alive. You want to know why I was so eager to go on this mission? I convinced myself that I was wrong, that I was good at my job. I wanted the chance to prove it to myself, that I do know what I'm doing. But I wasn't wrong. I'm unfit for command. I have no right to wear this uniform.'

'Xander, how can you say that?'

'How can I not? We're sitting here about to be executed because I screwed up again. I'm sorry, Willow. I'm sorry I got you into this. I'm sorry I couldn't just let you live a nice normal life in New York.'

'Xander, I love you, but you're thick in the head, you know that?'

'What are you talking about?'

'First of all, you didn't force me to leave New York, it was my decision. Just like it was my decision to stay on with the SGC, just like it was Faith and Riley's decision. We know the risks. Secondly, not everything bad that happens is your fault. Yeah, it was an ambush, but you couldn't have known that. We had bad intel, that wasn't your fault. And when we started taking fire, you were calm and cool, and you got me and Faith out of there right away.'

'What about Riley?'

'You made a command decision, and a damn good one. If you had ordered Riley to go too, you would have been overrun and killed, and we probably never would have made it to the gate. Making hard decisions is what makes you a great commander. It's the reason all of us are alive right now. You more than deserve to wear that uniform, and you more than deserve to lead this team. And I know for a fact that Riley and Faith feel the same way.'

'If I can't trust my own decisions…'

'Questioning your decisions doesn't make you a bad leader, it just makes you a good person. You care so much, Xander. More than I thought humanly possible sometimes. You care about everybody, and you care about doing what's right. It's the reason I…it's the reason I love you.

'I wasn't going to say anything, but like you said, no reason to hold anything back now. Ever since that day, when I thought…that I might lose you, ever since that day all I can think about is how much you mean to me. I can't remember my life without you in it, I can't even imagine it. You're a part of my soul. Maybe once I thought that was just friendship, and maybe once I took it for granted. I didn't realize until I was faced with the very real possibility of your death, until my heart sat at the bottom of my stomach for five straight days…that I love you. I love you, in every definition of the word, in every way humanly and inhumanly possible. I love you.'

Xander didn't say anything. He just turned his head and leaned it against Willow's. She closed her eyes and leaned back, the barest hint of a smile on her lips. If they truly were about to die, then she was glad she told him, no matter how he felt. All that mattered was that they were together. That's all that ever mattered.

Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. They came and took off the rope that held them together. They pulled them to their feet, and cut the ropes binding their ankles so they could walk. Xander thought, as one of the larger men led him by the arm, a quick elbow to his stomach and he could grab his zat. Then maybe…

'Don't.'

There was no hope for them left. Even he did get free and get a few shots off, it wouldn't be enough to save their lives. It would just be killing for the sake of killing, and that's the last thing Willow wanted in her name. He understood that.

They were taken closer to the fire. The women and children were out of sight, which was to be expected. They stopped in front of Grizzly and a few others. Claw was nowhere to be seen, which surprised Xander. The guards removed their gags and pushed them down into a kneeling position. Xander's eyes never left Grizzly's. To his credit, he didn't look happy about what was about to happen. Xander understood. If they truly believed what they said, that the two of them were sent to somehow lure them out for the demons, then they really had no choice. For the good of the tribe. Xander understood, but it didn't mean he was going to make it easy for them. So he stared at him, daring him to look away, to show any kind of hesitation in this bloody deed. Grizzly never looked away.

After a moment, the guards, or executioners he supposed, pushed his head forward so that he was looking down at the ground. Xander could feel the point of a sword touching the back of his neck. At least it would be quick and clean, he thought. One swift stroke and lights out.

"I love you too, Willow," Xander said in barely a whisper. "I'll see you on the other side."

Grizzly raised his hand, preparing to give the signal.

'As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil…'

"Wait."

It was Grizzly's voice, and for a brief instant a glimmer of hope flashed inside of Xander.

"Take their clothes, we can use them."

And just that fast, the glimmer went out again. Xander rolled his eyes. Why do they have to prolong this anymore, just do it.

They cut his hands free and started pulling at his jacket. Xander pushed them away and took it off himself. He stripped down to his tee shirt, and when he pulled that off he heard the guard next to him gasp. Xander looked up and saw the man looking down at him strangely.

He didn't even see Grizzly step closer to him. He hoisted Xander to his feet, and stared intently at his bicep. The tattoo, Xander's tattoo, that's what they were looking at he realized. Grizzly poked at it and rubbed on it, looking at his hand to see if it came off. Of course it didn't. He turned to one of his men. "Find the Tribe First, tell him to come here," he ordered. "Go, now!"


	5. Part 5

SG-13 

By Xodarap

Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, and SFC owns Stargate. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

Dedication: To Helen and Nikki, for whom I do everything. And my angels, Jordan and Jessica, may they rest in peace.

Summary: Three years after the end of the series (BtVS), a group of former Scoobies have a new mission. Kicking interplanetary undead ass.

Author's Note: Special thanks to DaBear, Sirius, Miss Kayl, Big G, Rob Clark, Darklight, Eykar, S.M., charmedfanatic3000, Alexandra, slbwhitewolf, Mytryk, Calia, WBH21C, RickW22, lmichelle1, Jwolf, Enjael, Jen007, Thundertb, weirdfrog, Agent-G, Damia, Lel x, Bex, Icealina, KaIrO, LizaGirl, and Dirbatua for the feedback. It's much appreciated. Also, this is an AU as far as the Stargate universe since O'Neill is still a colonel and Janet Fraiser is still alive.

(BtVS/SG1, W/X)

(5?)

March 31, 2005

Cheyenne Mountain

Colorado Springs, CO

Xander and Willow stood in the gate room along with SG-1 and General Hammond, watching the stargate light up as it connected to an incoming wormhole. Today was the day, Xander thought. Time to find out if he was going to be any use at all to these people. Today was the day they were going to reach into Xander's mind and try to pull out the long dormant soldier memories.

The wormhole established and the gate flushed sideways. It was an amazing sight that Xander and Willow still weren't used to yet. A few seconds later, two people emerged from the gate and started down the ramp. An older looking man with a bald head, and a beautiful woman carrying a case of some kind.

"The High Council of the Tok'ra sends its greetings," the man said, extending his hand. General Hammond shook it.

"Good to see you, Jacob," the General said.

"You too, George. Jack, Daniel, Teal'c."

"Hi, Dad," Sam said, stepping forward and giving Jacob a hug.

"Hey, kiddo," Jacob said affectionately. Xander and Willow looked on with puzzled expressions.

"Wait a minute," Xander said. "This is your father?"

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"And he's an alien?"

"Yeah."

"Are you an alien?"

"No, of course not."

"I'm confused."

"You better get used to it kid, it happens a lot with this job," Jack chimed in.

"The Tok'ra are symbiotes," Daniel explained. "Like the Goa'uld. They need human hosts."

"The key differences being, we don't take a host against their will, and we share the body equally. I'm Jacob Carter," Jacob said, extending his hand to Xander. Xander shook it. Jacob lowered his head and closed his eyes.

He looked up again and spoke, his voice a deep baritone. "And I am Selmac."

Xander nodded. "Nice to meet you…both of you."

"This is Anise," Selmac said, introducing the Tok'ra woman.

"Anise," Xander said, shaking the woman's hand. "That's a very pretty name."

"It means Noble Strength," Anise said.

"My name is Alexander, it means, um…Wills, what does it mean?" he asked, turning to Willow.

"Defender of mankind," she answered.

"How appropriate then," Anise said. "That you've chosen this life for yourself."

"I suppose. I never really thought about it."

"I'm Willow. It means tree."

"Well, now that we're all acquainted, what do you say we get down to business," Jacob said. "I have to tell you George, the High Council was intrigued by the message you sent. If all this stuff about demons is really true…"

"It's true," Xander answered.

"Well, that makes this a whole new ball game, doesn't it," Jacob said. "Why don't we get started."

An hour or so later, more pleasantries had been exchanged, Daniel and Willow had shown Jacob some books and pictures of ruins to take back to the Tok'ra High Council, and Xander found himself sitting in a chair in the conference room while Anise set up her equipment in front of him.

"So, what exactly does this thing do?" he asked.

"It scans the brain and creates a visual representation of memories," Anise answered. "We used it not too long ago to investigate the possibility of a zatarg in the SGC."

"What's a zatarg?"

"A spy that doesn't know he's a spy," Jack answered. "It's a long story. Suffice it to say, I'm not going to be getting scanned by this thing again any time soon."

"Well thanks Jack, I feel much better now," Xander said.

"There is nothing to be concerned about, I assure you," Anise said. "It's perfectly safe."

"Unless you're a zatarg, which your not," Sam added. "So you have nothing to worry about."

"I am ready to proceed," Anise said.

"Okay, what do I have to do?" Xander asked.

"I'll ask you questions to uncover the memories, the machine will do the rest. Let's start with a test first, to make sure the machine is calibrated properly. Tell me, what happened to your eye?"

Xander frowned. "I'm not sure that's a good…"

He didn't even finish his sentence before an image appeared in front of him. It was the vineyard, their first encounter with Caleb. He was tossing Buffy around like a rag doll. A lot of the potentials were hurt. Rona had a broken arm, Kennedy was lying on the ground, not moving. Xander helped her to her feet. They weren't leaving anyone behind, not tonight, not ev…

"So, you're the one who sees." It happened so fast. He turned around and there was Caleb. His grip was like steel, there was nothing Xander could do. "Let's see what we can do about that." His thumb slid into Xander's eye socket with a sickening ease, like he was pulling a cherry out of a pie. A horrifying scream filled the conference room, and Xander wasn't sure if it was coming from the machine or him.

"Shut it off!" Willow yelled, rushing to Xander's side. The image disappeared. Xander was breathing hard, shaking his head back and forth like he was trying to physically force the memory to leave him. Willow pulled him into her arms before turning to Anise, shooting her a look that would make a grown man wet himself. "What the hell is the matter with you!"

Everyone else in the room seemed dumbfounded by what they had just seen, except for Teal'c whose expression was, as usual, unreadable. Sam and Daniel looked like they were about to be sick. Jack had seen more combat than either of them, he wasn't quite as shocked by it as they were, but he still wore a sympathetic frown. No one that young should know that kind of violence, he thought. Xander was barely in his twenties, and he was already a veteran of a war that most people didn't even know existed. Seeing it like that was a shot of reality, and none of them were prepared for it.

Anise looked horrified. "I…I'm sorry…I didn't know…"

"What did you think, it was licked off by kittens!" Willow bit back.

"It's okay, Willow," Xander said as he caught his breath. "I'm okay, I'm fine. It was just a bit of a shock is all, okay?" He turned to Anise. "I guess that means it works."

"Yes," Anise said. "I'm sorry, the experience can be jarring, I just wanted you to be prepared for it."

"Well you could have told us first," Willow snapped.

"Willow, really, it's okay," Xander said. "Maybe you all should wait outside. Something tells me a lot of the soldier memories aren't going to be much more pleasant than that."

"Xander..."

"I'm sure, Willow," Xander said, cutting her off. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I want to do this." Xander pointed at himself. "See, resolve face."

The two exchanged a look for a few seconds before Willow nodded. "Okay. Just...be careful." Willow leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

"If it's alright with you son, Colonel O'Neill and I would like to stay," General Hammond said. "Get a sense of what these memories are about, specifically what kind of training and knowledge you may have."

"That's fine, General," Xander said. Willow gave his hand one more squeeze before following Jacob, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c out of the room.

Xander took a deep breath and steadied himself before looked back to Anise. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's do this."

Almost three hours later, Willow was still pacing back and forth in the corridor in front of the conference room. Sam and Daniel were still waiting with her, while Jacob and Teal'c had taken a break to get something to eat. "Why is this taking so long?" Willow asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"I guess there must be a lot of memories to sort through," Sam said. "I know from experience how confusing it can be to have memories that aren't your own floating around in your brain."

"How's that?" Willow asked.

"I was temporarily blended with a Tok'ra symbiote once, her name was Jolinar. I still have fragments of her memories that pop up once in a while. I can't imagine how difficult it will be for Xander to try and make sense of all these soldier memories once he has full access to them all."

"You're not making me feel better, Major."

Carter smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"I may not have known Xander for very long," Daniel piped in. "But if it's any consolation, he seems very good at adapting to new situations. I'm sure he'll be able to handle these memories."

"I hope so," Willow said. "Because if he can't, knowing Xander, he won't tell anybody until his head explodes. He always puts himself last."

"Well, then it's a good thing he has someone like you who puts him first," Daniel said. "I wouldn't worry too much, Anise knows what she's doing. If Xander is in any danger, they'll stop."

Willow nodded, but she still wasn't sure. If Xander feels like he doesn't have enough, he might not want to stop.

That's when the door to the conference room opened and General Hammond stepped out, followed closely by Anise. A second later, Jack and Xander came out with Xander leaning rather heavily on the Colonel.

"Xander!" Willow exclaimed. She was at his side in an instant, putting his other arm around her shoulder so he could lean on her a little.

"I'm okay, Wills," he said. "Just a little tired, with the mother of all headaches."

"He did remarkably," Anise said with more than a little astonishment in her voice. "Considering the...nature of the memories, he bore the stress quite well. He should rest now, give his mind a chance to sort through it all."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure, I'm fine. On the Xander Harris pain scale, it fit somewhere between emergency dental surgery and getting my eye gouged out. I wouldn't want to do it again, but it's not the worst thing I've ever felt.

"Yeah well, your scale goes a little higher than most, so excuse me if I don't find that comforting. I'm going to take you to the infirmary so they can take a look at you while you rest," Willow said.

"I'm in no position to argue," Xander said.

"Just a second, son," Hammond said, stepping closer to Xander. "I was going to wait until later to do this, but after what I've just seen, I don't think I have to." The General reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Alexander Harris, by order of the United States Air Force, I hereby grant you the honorary rank of Captain, with all the rights and privileges that go with." Hammond opened his hand to reveal a set of dog tags on a chain. He reached up and put the chain around Xander's neck. "You'll still have to pass a few tests and a physical exam, when you're up to it, but I don't think that will be a problem."

Xander looked down at the dog tags, grinning from ear to ear. He took his arm from Jack's shoulder and gave the General a salute. Hammond returned it. "Thank you, Sir."

Hammond reached out and shook Xander's hand. "No son, thank you."

"Come on," Willow said. "We better get him to the infirmary before his head gets too big to fit through the doorway." Jack just smirked as he took Xander's other arm again and the three of them made their way down the hall towards the infirmary.

"Check it out Wills, local kid makes good," Xander said, still smiling.

Willow leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "That happened a long time ago, Xan."

August 13, 2006

PX-201V8

Riley and Faith had been moving through the tunnels for over a half an hour. Faith had taken point, claiming she could feel the demons and could lead the way. They had taken a few twists and turns at intersecting tunnels, but still no sign of any more demons.

"We have to go back," Riley said, keeping his voice low. "I can't get Xander or Willow on the radio, something's wrong."

"They can take care of themselves, Cornbread. Besides, we're getting closer, I can feel it."

"You said that ten minutes ago."

"And I meant it. Just trust me okay, slayer instincts. There's a nest down here somewhere and we're going to find it."

Riley didn't know why he always let Faith talk him into stuff like this. He knew they should go back. Xander had said, radio checks every fifteen minutes. Something had to be wrong. But there was something to be said for slayer instincts. They had kept them alive this long. Fact was he trusted Faith, like he trusted all of his teammates. He would give it five more minutes. Five more minutes, and if they didn't find anything…

"Holy sh…" Faith exclaimed a little too loudly before Riley clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her down to the ground.

They had rounded a corner and found themselves looking at a very large cavern. It spread out before them, the size of three football fields. They were perched on a rocky ledge, twenty feet or so from the cavern floor. Faith had almost fallen before Riley grabbed her. They both quickly killed their flashlights. There was some natural light, probably from more tunnels closer to the surface. It was dim, but it was enough to make out a large group of Chaos demons wandering around.

"How many do you think?" Riley whispered. He knew her eyes were much better in the dark than his were.

"At least fifteen up and moving," Faith said. "Ten or so more lying down. At least some of them are dead but some I can't tell."

"Remind me never to doubt you again."

"Don't worry, I will. So what's the plan?"

"Well, enough C4 should bring this place down. But we have to check in with the boss man first." Riley reached for his radio. "Xander, come in," he said into the radio for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes. Surprising them both, he actually got an answer this time.

"I'm a little busy right now, Riley," Xander said over the radio. "Stand by."

April 10, 2005

Somewhere in the jungles of Colombia

Riley flopped down on the ground at the base of a tree, trying to catch his breath. He looked down to check the charge on his pulse rifle. He had it on the maximum setting, which meant he probably only had a few shots left. He did a quick inventory of the rest of his weapons. Nine millimeter on his hip with a couple clips of ammo, that wasn't going to do him any good. He had already used the rest of his grenades on this thing and it was barely stunned. A wooden stake and a combat knife. No way was he getting close enough to use those. He already had a nasty gash on the side of his face and what he guessed was a sprained wrist from the last time he got too close and the thing backhanded him a good six feet in the air.

Riley looked through the dense jungle and spotted his wife sitting behind a tree, not looking much better than him. He could hear the thing in the jungle, and it was getting closer. They were in serious trouble. Riley peeked out from behind the tree and saw the trees in the distance moving as it got closer. Finally, he saw it, as it stepped out into a small clearing. It was eight feet tall, with red leathery skin and a single horn coming out of the top of its head. There was bits of shrapnel sticking out of it in places, but near as Riley could tell, it wasn't even bleeding anywhere. Riley's life flashed before his eyes, and he decided that it was filled with far too much demon fighting and not nearly enough sex with his wife.

That's when two things happened that left Riley's jaw hanging open. The first was an energy bolt that came from somewhere in the jungle and struck the demon. The thing stumbled, looking stunned, which was a much greater reaction than it had had to his or Sam's pulse rifles. The second was a man running out of the jungle and jumping on the demon's back. He had what looked like a dagger in each hand, which he quickly plunged into the demon's eyes. The thing wailed in pain, while the man hung onto its horn like a bull rider, wrenching its head from side to side to keep it from pulling the daggers out. After about ten seconds, the demon collapsed. Another man stepped out of the trees, pointing some kind of weapon at the demon. Once he was sure it was dead, he replaced the weapon on his leg.

"What do you think?" he heard the first man ask the second.

"Your form was good, but I'm going to have to deduct points for not staying on the full eight seconds," the second man said.

"Bullshit, that was way longer than eight seconds."

That's when Riley recognized the voice. "Xander!" Riley climbed to his feet and stumbled into the clearing. He could see Sam doing the same out of the corner of his eye. Riley's mouth was still hanging open as he walked closer and looked down at the dead demon. "How did you do that?"

"It's a Gralok demon, blessed silver in the eyes," Xander answered matter-of-factly.

"How did you know that?"

"I didn't," Xander said. "I have a satellite phone with Willow on speed dial. Are you two...Oof!" Xander was cut off as Riley enveloped him in a bear hug. "It's nice to see you too, Ri," Xander said with a smile. "Okay, oxygen becoming an issue." Riley let him go. "Hey Sam, your husband here seems to like hugging other men, you better watch...Oof!" Xander was cut off yet again as Sam nearly tackled him in a hug of her own. "Well, this is a warmer welcome than I'm used to."

"What are you doing here?" Riley asked.

"Looking for you, actually."

"What happened to your eye?" Sam asked as she finally broke the hug.

Xander reached up and touched his eye-patch. "Oh, that's right, I haven't seen you guys since..." Xander drifted off. "Long story short, you should see the other guy."

"That cut looks pretty nasty, let me take a look at it."

"Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners," Xander said. "Riley, Sam, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force. Jack, this is Riley Finn and his wife, Sam."

"Pleasure to meet you," Jack said, inspecting the gash on Riley's face. "It looks superficial, you shouldn't need stitches. Hang on, I have a first-aid kit in my pack."

"Thanks," Riley said. "What did you mean you were looking for us?" he asked Xander. "Is there a problem?"

"Nothing apocalyptic," Xander said. "The Air Force is putting together a little team for a special project of theirs, and they're looking for people with experience fighting demons using military tactics. I thought you might be able to give me some names."

"How did you find us?" Sam asked.

"Locator spell," Xander said. "Led us to a village a few miles from here. They told us they had been having some demon trouble, up until a few days ago when they heard a big boom, and presto, no more demons. We thought you guys might still be around picking off the stragglers. Where's the rest of your team?"

"Probably Panama by now," Riley said bitterly.

Jack wiped the blood from Riley's face and taped a bandage over the wound. "There. It's not pretty, but it'll hold you till you get to a medic."

"What do you mean, Panama?" Xander asked. "What happened?"

"We were sent down here to take out that Gralok nest, like you said. We found it, in a cave a couple clicks East from here. Blew it up, took out most of them with the initial blast. But instead of tracking the ones that got away, our CO says we got another mission. José Londono, a big time drug trafficker and key member of one of Colombia's biggest drug cartels. They gave us some bogus story that he was a vampire. Told us to raid his compound, kill him and anyone else that got in our way, and burn the place to the ground."

"Are you sure this guy wasn't a vampire?" Jack asked.

"Londono has been on a government watch list for years, if he was a vampire, they would have known it long before now," Sam answered. "No, I've seen this happen before. Demon hunting units are so top secret and so elite, that pretty soon the brass start thinking they can use us to take care of their dirty work nice and quietly. Assassinations, secret wars, the stuff that no one is supposed to know the Army is involved in."

"A few of us knew it was BS," Riley continued. "So we refused to do it. They left us behind."

"Can they do that?" Xander asked.

"The unit doesn't officially exist. Our military careers don't officially exist. They can pretty much do whatever they want," Riley answered.

"Who else is out here besides you two?" Jack asked.

"We're all that's left," Riley said dejectedly. "Sanchez and Peterman stayed behind with us. This...thing killed them two days ago," Riley said looking down at the dead demon with disgust. "Would have killed us too if you two hadn't happened by."

Xander leaned down and pulled the two silver daggers from the eyes of the Gralok demon. The demon's head collapsed and started to melt. "We're just glad we could help," he said. "This the last one?" Riley nodded. Xander and Jack shared a look, both of them nodding slightly to each other.

"Well, we've got a long hike back to the village," Jack said. "We have a jeep there we can take back to the air field, give you folks a lift back to the states."

"We'd appreciate that very much Colonel, thank you," Riley said, his voice filled with relief.

"Not a problem. Come on, the hike will give us a chance to chat." Jack put his arm around Riley's shoulder and started into the jungle with him, Xander and Sam not too far behind. "Son, have you ever thought about joining the Air Force?"

May 1, 2005

Cleveland, OH

The Haunt was a nightclub in downtown Cleveland. The decor was medieval goth, the music was industrial house, and the patrons were dressed like it was Halloween. It was one of the more popular clubs in town, as evidenced by the long line of people still waiting to get it. Two women, who looked a bit out of place among the club goers, were walking up the sidewalk toward the front of the line.

"What are we doing here?" Major Samantha Carter asked.

Willow smiled. "Places like this are prime hunting grounds for vampires," she answered. "It's loud, it's crowded, easy to slip away with someone unnoticed. Plus, look at these people. Some of them are probably dumb enough to buy into that whole romantic Anne Rice crap. If I was a vampire, this is where I'd be. Which means, this is where she'll be."

Carter nodded. "Makes sense."

Willow liked Carter. She was brilliant, and yet not arrogant about it so as to think that she had all the answers. She was taking the whole finding out about demons and vampires thing a lot better than most people did. She was curious, and very interested in Willow's knowledge and opinions. She was also very cute, which certainly didn't hurt.

Willow walked straight up to the doorman and waved her hand in front of his face. "We're on the list," she said.

The doorman unhooked the velvet rope. "Go right inside ladies, have a nice night."

"Thank you," Willow said with a cheery smile.

Carter followed Willow inside. "How did you do that?" she asked, shouting above the music.

"Just a simple mind clouding spell, only lasts a few seconds. Xander calls it my Jedi mind trick."

Willow made her way through the crowd toward a spiral staircase that led to the club's second floor. Sam followed behind her as they climbed the stairs to the terrace that overlooked the dance floor. "So, how are we supposed to find this woman?" she asked.

"Easy," Willow said. "Faith always draws a crowd." Willow scanned the crowd on the dance floor until she found what she was looking for. A cluster of men surrounding a couple dancing. It was Faith all right, wearing skintight black leather pants with a red halter top, dancing with a guy in ripped jeans and a tee shirt. "There," Willow said pointing. "That's her."

Sam looked surprised. "That's her? She looks so..."

"Skanky?" Willow supplied.

"I was going to say young."

Willow just shook her head a little. "Only on the outside," she said. Willow thought briefly about how that could apply to a lot of people she knew, herself included, but she quickly cleared her thoughts to focus on the task at hand. "Looks like she's already got one on the line."

"You mean the guy she's dancing with is a...vampire? How can you tell?"

"Look at him," Willow said. "He looks like the lead singer from Def Leopard. She wouldn't be dancing with him unless he was a vampire, he's not exactly her type." They watched for a few minutes more, until Faith started leading the vampire toward the back of the club. "She's reeling him in, come on," Willow said, heading back to the stairs. Sam followed.

Willow and Sam left the club through the front and walked around back to the alley. Sure enough, they came upon Faith kicking the crap out of the vampire she had just been dancing with. They waited until she staked him before making their presence known.

"Faith."

Faith turned. "Red? Hey, fancy meeting you here. What brings you to Cleveland, business or pleasure?"

"Business I'm afraid. Speaking of which, how is business?"

"Booming, as usual. The Hellmouth still attracts them, as much as it ever did in old SunnyD. Except now the suckheads have a whole lot more places to hide. How are things in, ah, New York, right?"

"Not anymore. My attempt at a normal life failed spectacularly. I'm working with Xander on a new thing now."

"Oh yeah? How is Pirate-boy?"

"He's fine," Willow said, smiling at the new nickname she had saddled Xander with. "How's Robin?"

"Oh, he's fine. So, who's your friend?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Faith, this is Samantha Carter. Sam, this is Faith, the vampire slayer."

Sam extended a hand. "Nice to meet you."

Faith shook it politely. "Likewise." She turned back to Willow. "What happened to, ah, what was her name, Eisenhower?"

"Kennedy," Willow corrected. "She, ah...she's still giving that normal life thing a try."

"Bummer," Faith said. "Still, it looks like you've...moved on," she said, glancing at Sam. "You work fast, Red."

Willow cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, the reason we're here actually is I wanted to talk to you."

"Me? What for?"

"Well, this thing that Xander and I are working on, we're consulting for the military on this project that they're putting together. And I was wondering if maybe you knew of some slayers that might be interested. They'll draw a nice salary, get to travel to...far away places."

Faith looked skeptical. "Military project? You sure this is on the up and up?"

"I know how it sounds, I was skeptical at first myself. And I wish I could go into more detail, but I really can't. Suffice it to say, they're on the level. Xander is the one who brought me in on this, and he trusts them."

Faith seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding. "Okay. So why are you coming to me? If you want slayers, why not go to the Watchers?"

"Well..." Willow paused as she glanced awkwardly at Sam. "The American government is still a little hesitant about showing all their cards to a group like the Watchers, so we're kind of trying to stay off their radar...for now. I knew that you and Robin had run into a few slayers here and there, so I thought I'd see if you knew anyone."

"Well, all the slayers we ran into either took the hop over the pond to tea and crumpet land, or are here in Cleveland at the school."

"School?" Willow asked.

"The Wood Academy for Gifted Girls," Faith said. "Robin thought it would make a nice cover for a slayer school. It's the official Watcher HQ here in Cleveland. There's only about five slayers there now, but the Watchers are planning on sending more from what I've heard. The Hellmouth is still where all the action is."

Willow nodded. "So, you don't know anyone who would be interested?"

"Well, I might know one person," Faith said. "She can be a bit of a handful, and she doesn't deal well with authority figures. But she kicks serious amounts of ass, and a paying gig would definitely be right up her alley. I think she'd be interested in what you have to say."

"Great," Willow said. "When can we meet her?"

Faith smiled. "You already have. When do we leave?"

Willow looked surprised. "You? But what about Robin? I thought you and he...you know, I thought you were happy here?"

"I've never been one to let grass grow under my feet," Faith said. "And Robin and me, we're just too different, like oil and vineger."

"Oil and water," Willow corrected.

"That too. He's a little too straightlace for me. Plus, he's got serious mommy issues. We're doing the whole 'we'll still be friends' deal, but the truth is I've been looking for a new gig. And Robin's pretty much got things covered here. So, about that nice salary. Exactly how much are we talking?"

Willow and Sam shared a look. "It's negotiable," Sam said. Faith just smiled.

August 13, 2006

PX-201V8

Xander was sitting by a small fire, where the guards had escorted him after Grizzly stopped the execution. He was still shirtless. It was his tattoo that had somehow saved their lives. Grizzly recognized the symbol, he must have. Xander could still see Willow from where he was. They had untied her, but looked to be keeping a close eye on her. A few minutes passed before Xander heard someone approaching. He looked up and saw the man with the claw marks on his chest plate. The one they assumed to be the leader, Claw.

"I am the Tribe First," the man spoke.

"Xander Harris, nice to meet you," Xander said casually. There was no point in hiding anything now he figured.

Claw sat down on a rock next to him. "My Second tells me that you say you come from a place far away, where there are no demons," he said. Claw looked around before leaning in closer to Xander, like he was afraid what he was going to say next would be overheard. "Did you come through the Great Stone Ring?"

"We call it a stargate," Xander said. "And yes, we did."

Claw smiled. "Then the legend is true. There aren't many among us who still believe. I myself have been starting to wonder if the stories my grandfather told me of the Great Exodus were anything but that, stories. But it's true, our people have survived."

"The Great Exodus?" Xander asked.

"You don't know the story? Isn't that why you've returned? To take us from this place, to lead us to salvation?"

"We are here to help, that's true. But I'm not sure that we are exactly who you think we are. Tell you what, why don't you tell me about the Great Exodus, and I'll try and explain where we're from."

"Alright, I'll tell you the story the way my grandfather used to tell it to me. Four generations ago, when my grandfather was just a boy, there was once a great civilization. Our people lived on the surface, in peace with each other and with the world around us. And then they came. Some say they came from the valley to the South, others say it was from the mountains in the West. Either way, they came and they brought death with them. We tried to fight, but they were too strong. We tried to run, but they were too fast. Many died in the beginning, too many. So we hid. Some fled to the mountains, some hid in the caves. Some built strongholds to keep the demons out. But still, our numbers grew smaller with each day that passed.

"Then one day a priest came out of the mountains, and told the people of an ancient legend. The legend of the Great Stone Ring, from where our people were born. He said that he had found the Ring, and that we could use it to escape from the demons, to travel back to the place where our people came from. Many were skeptical, but most felt that there was nothing left to lose.

"My grandfather told me that he was there, that he saw the Great Stone Ring with his own eyes. He saw it's surface shimmer like water, and he saw people disappear into it. The ones who stayed behind were either non-believers, or simply too afraid of where the Ring would lead us. Those who left promised to return if it was safe, to take us to salvation. When no one returned, the non-believers saw it as proof that they were right. Those with faith kept it, because they had little else. And they passed their faith from generation to generation.

"And life continued. Those that were left splintered into tribes. And when our numbers dwindled, tribes joined with other tribes, until there were only two left. The ones who lived in the caves, and the ones who lived in the stronghold. As the years passed, the surface became more and more barren. Food became more and more scarce. This armor once belonged to my father. He was a hunter. He was wearing it the day he killed the last Razor Beast he ever saw. The last Razor Beast anyone ever saw. As our numbers became fewer, so did the demons. Until the only ones left were the most vicious, the most bloodthirsty. That's when the surface became too unsafe for even the bravest of hunters.

"The demons concentrated all of their efforts on the stronghold after that. We were too well hidden for them. That's when the tribe war started. First they tried to steal our caves, steal our food. We fought them off. Then they tried to betray us to the demons, in exchange for their own lives. But the demons don't care about fair exchange, and they killed the stronghold tribe. We survived by staying hidden. Finding new caves, digging new tunnels. And when food became almost impossible to find, we did the unthinkable."

Xander's eyes fell on the piece of antler tied around Claw's right bicep. "You started hunting the demons," he said with a shocked realization. "That's why you dug that tunnel to intersect with theirs."

"Our tunnels give us a small advantage, but still...it's very dangerous. But we do what we must to feed the tribe."

At that moment, Xander's radio crackled to life from his belt. "Xander, come in," Riley's voice said.

Xander and Willow had both turned the volume down on their radios when they first entered the cave, so as not to frighten the locals. But when Xander took his jacket off, the mic clipped to it came unplugged from the radio, so now the sound was coming from the radio itself. Xander took it off his belt and spoke into it. "I'm a little busy right now, Riley. Stand by."

"Sorry about that," he said, turning back to the Tribe First. "You're a brave man, Claw. And a good leader. These people wouldn't be alive without you. You're right about one thing, we are here to help you and take you to a better place. We are human, just like you, but I'm afraid that we're not descended from the people who left your planet four generations ago. Your Great Stone Ring is one of many, in a vast network all connected to one another. We are from a planet called Earth, and we travel through the stargate to explore and meet new people. My team specifically travels to planets like this one, where there are demons, and we fight them and help the people there."

"You can take us with you, to this Earth?"

"We can take you to a place my people call the Omega Site. The people who live there call it Hope. It's a colony of people like your people, who have fought against demons and lost their homes. It's a safe place, with lots of land for farming, plenty of food, and a whole lot of great people building a life for themselves. I think your people will fit in just fine."

Claw seemed to be practically in tears at the thought of it. "Such a thing," he said after a moment. "I never thought it was possible. I had lost hope for my people, and now it seems that hope has found us. Thank you." Claw grabbed Xander and pulled him into a hug.

Xander held back a yelp of surprise at the gesture, and patted the Tribe First on the back. "Not a problem," he said. "Just doing my job."

"I have just one more question," Claw said, pulling back from the hug. "If the Great Stone Ring really works, why did my people never come back for us?"

"Well, I think I might know," Xander said. "You see, in order to activate the stargate, you have to enter a series of symbols, like this one," he said, pointing at his tattoo. "Each planet has it's own series of symbols, or gate address, with the last symbol entered specific to the gate dialing out, the point of origin. I don't know where your people got the address they used when they left, but without knowing the address for this planet, they wouldn't have been able to dial back here. Or maybe they did have the address for here, but couldn't find the symbol for the point of origin of the gate they were dialing from." Xander could tell from the look on Claw's face that he wasn't following him. "I'll try to explain it better."

"Just tell me this," Claw said. "Can you help us find the rest of our people?"

"If we had the gate address they dialed, maybe, but without that..."

"You said it was a series of symbols, right? Is it seven symbols, is that how many?" Claw asked.

"Yes, it is. How did you know that?"

Claw reached down to the bracer he wore on his right forearm and started to pull it off. "The day of the Great Exodus, my grandfather's father marked his arm. He told him that the markings may one day be important. My grandfather marked my father, and my father marked me." Claw held out his arm for Xander to see. Tattooed on the inside of his forearm, was a gate address. The third symbol in the address closely matched the one on Xander's arm, the symbol for the point of origin for Earth. "This is how my Second recognized the symbol on your arm. He had seen it before on my arm."

Xander smiled. "If this is the address then we should be able to..." Xander trailed off as he looked closer at the tattoo, his smile disappearing. "I...I'd like for my friend to see this, is that okay?"

"Of course."

Xander turned and caught Willow's eye from across the cave. He waved for her to come over. Claw nodded to the guards from behind him, and Willow jogged over. "What is it? Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Well, I've got good news, bad news, and worse news. the good news is they believe me and they're not going to kill us. The bad news is that I lost our bet and I owe you dinner."

"So they did leave through the stargate," Willow confirmed.

Xander nodded. "And here's the worse news, this is the address they went to," he said, pointing at Claw's arm. "Look familiar?"

Willow looked closer at the tattoo. When she looked up again, her expression matched Xander's. She spoke only two words. "Ro'chok's temple."

tbc...


End file.
